Good Luck
by JamiW
Summary: Fifth in the "Free" series, post-Dirty Laundry. A casefile with lots of B/A and M/C
1. Chapter 1

Alex POV

* * *

Monday morning, we both called in sick. Separately of course, but still…Ross was mad as hell. But I couldn't bring myself to care. We needed a day to rest, and I figured he would get over it.

On Tuesday, I put down my things on my desk and headed for his office first thing. I had drawn the short straw, so to speak. Actually, I had lost a bet. Bobby had said that he could get me to beg. I said he would never, ever, get me to beg for anything. Alex Eames does not beg.

Turns out I was wrong. I still think it was cheating, using that ice cube, but since we hadn't specifically forbidden the use of props, I decided I would take my loss like a grown-up.

It was kind of ironic that I lost a sexual bet and therefore had to tell our boss that we were no longer dating. As I knocked on his door, I threw that thought out of my head. Otherwise I was going to start smirking.

"What can I do for you, Detective?" he asked when I entered his office. He was looking through a file and only half-way paying attention to me.

"I wanted to discuss something of a…um…personal nature." There. Now I had his full attention.

"Yes?"

"I appreciate your…discretion when my partner and I wanted to try out the possibility of…exploring a relationship outside of work. But we have decided that we will no longer be dating." I hated that terminology – dating. It made me feel like a teenager. But, I needed to use that exact wording to keep from lying. I didn't want to lie. I just wanted to…lead him in the incorrect direction.

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm just saying that you don't need to worry about don't ask, don't tell."

That wasn't a lie, was it? He didn't need to _worry_ about it. He wouldn't be asking, and we wouldn't be telling – no worries.

"Oh. Well. Okay," he said finally. "You still want to be partners?"

"Yes sir. We're fine. There's no need to make a big deal out of it. We're adults. He's still my best friend," I added because I didn't want him to think we wouldn't be still hanging out together sometimes.

"Okay then. Thank you for letting me know."

"No problem. I'm going to…um…get back to it."

I went back to my desk and sat down. I could feel Bobby looking at me.

"It's done?"

"Yeah."

"Did he buy it?"

"I think so. But you have to quit looking so…sexually satisfied," I told him in a low voice. He flashed a quick grin at me and went back to his paperwork. I stifled a smile myself and followed his lead.

We did desk work for three days before we got a call. It was five o'clock on Friday morning.

"Eames," I said sleepily into my cell phone.

"I need you and your partner out at Central Park Zoo."

"It's a little early to be looking at animals," I cracked. It was tough talking to the boss man when I was still in bed with my partner's warm body wrapped around me.

"It's not too early for murder, apparently. There's a body at the ticket booth next to the main entrance."

"Do we have an i.d. on the vic?"

"Not yet. But being dumped so publicly has brought out the media," he said. The city big-wigs always hated it when a tourist attraction was sullied by dead bodies.

"Yes sir. I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Do you want me to call your partner?" _Huh?_ Since when did he offer to make two calls?

"No, it's fine. I'll get in touch with him." I hung up before any further discussion could develop. _Ross was concerned about me? _I almost felt bad for leading him astray. Almost.

"Bobby," I whispered, amazed that he had slept through my conversation. I rolled toward him and rubbed my hands over his face.

"Hmm…"

"We got a call. We have to get up."

"I don't want to," he said petulantly.

"Since when do you not want to go work a case?"

"Since I have much better things to explore right here in bed with me," he rumbled, his hands roaming freely over me. I closed my eyes and enjoyed it for a few seconds, but then I forced myself up.

"Come on. It's at the zoo. Just think of all the smells."

Forty-five minutes later, I stood over the body of a young, pretty woman who had been beaten to death.

"This is exactly how you found her?" I asked the beat cop who stood several yards away from the body. He was young and looked like he was going to be sick.

"Yes ma'am. I touched her neck to feel for a pulse." He visibly shuddered at the memory of touching the dead girl.

"No one else has touched her?"

"No ma'am. I kept the area clear and called it in."

"Good job, Reynolds," I told him, giving him a pat on the shoulder. I turned and walked over to Bobby, who was crouched down over the body.

"Anything interesting?" I asked him.

"Looks like she was hit with a blunt object of some sort. Several times. You smell that?" I couldn't stop the smirk. He always smelled _something_. I humored him with a quick sniff.

"Perfume?"

"It's Eastern European. If it's what I think it is, they don't sell it in the States. She looks like she could be…what – Polish? Czech?"

"Maybe, yeah. Nice clothes," I commented, and then I leaned in closer. "Knock-offs, though. And she's well-groomed. Nails, hair, make-up."

"No purse. No pockets."

I stood back up and called to Officer Reynolds.

"Did you search the area for her purse?" He paled slightly, so I took that as a no.

"It's okay. Do it now. Look around and in any nearby trash cans and dumpsters."

"Yes ma'am," he replied.

"Ma'am?" Bobby teased when I squatted back next to him.

"Shut up."

"Detectives, there's no need for bickering." I looked up and saw Rodgers approach. I gave her a smile.

"Haven't seen you in awhile," Bobby said, getting to his feet.

"The dead hooker, I think," she replied, referring to our councilman case from a couple weeks ago. "Who do we have now?"

"No i.d. Can you give us a rough TOD?"

Rodgers got down next to the body and opened her bag. She did a quick preliminary exam, periodically shoving Bobby out of the way when he got too close.

"She's been dead about two to four hours. That would put the TOD at some time between two and four a.m."

"Blunt force trauma?" I clarified.

"Unless someone poisoned her first," she said wryly as she stood up. "I can get her on the table later this morning. I'll call you."

We turned to leave, but Liz put her hand on my arm.

"How are you, Detective?" she asked meaningfully. _Oh my God_. Ross had told her. How unprofessional. Of course, she was his wife, but still…

"I'm fine. Really. Thanks." She held my gaze for another minute and then gave me a nod.

"Okay. Good. I'll give you a call when I finish up."

"Call when you're ready to start. We'll keep you company," Bobby said with a grin. He had trouble resisting the morgue, especially when the case was just getting started and we had nothing else to go on. Until we knew something, he would be chomping at the bit to procure some evidence.

We left Rodgers and went to find Officer Reynolds. He had found quite an interesting array of items in a nearby trashcan, but none of them seemed related to our victim.

"Keep looking," I told him. "Give me a call if you come up with anything."

We headed back to the SUV.

"What was that thing with Liz?" Bobby asked when we were inside the vehicle.

"I guess Ross told her we broke up. She seemed to be concerned for my well-being."

"So was Ross. How come no one's asked me if I'm okay?"

"I guess they all figure you broke my heart, rather than the other way around," I told him with a shrug.

I reached up to turn the key in the ignition, but he put his hand on my arm, stopping the motion.

"I will never break your heart. I promise."

"I know that," I replied, feeling that tingling sensation that always came around when Bobby put his hands on me. Or talked to me in that serious tone. Or really, when he even looked at me a certain way. He could most definitely break my heart because he held it, completely in his hands, but I knew he never would.

He watched me another moment, probably assuring himself that I truly did believe him, and then he sat back in the seat.

We headed back to 1PP after a quick stop for coffee.

"Have you talked to Mike this week?" I asked Bobby as I parked the SUV.

"Yesterday, for a minute. He gave his notice to Deakins. He's going to start working with Carolyn in another week."

"How do you think that'll work out?"

"I think if she hasn't killed him by now, they'll be just fine," he said with a laugh.

"You mean like us?" I teased.

"Exactly like us."

Three hours later, Rodgers called.

"Come on down, Detectives," she told me. "I'm getting ready to get started on your Jane Doe."

We grabbed our coats and headed for the morgue. We had absolutely nothing to go on so far, so I was really hoping that Rodgers could pull some evidence off the body.

"That was fast," she commented as we burst into the room.

"Well, we don't have anything else. So give us something. Our boss is breathing down our necks over this."

"He did mention something about getting a couple of calls from the mayor already," she told us. I could appreciate that she needed to stand up for her husband. I just couldn't figure out what had brought those two together in the first place.

"First off, I ran her prints," she continued. "Nothing. I bagged her clothes, and the techs are going through them, but nothing jumped out at me."

"Tox screen?" Bobby asked.

"Of course," she replied pointedly. "Blood alcohol level was point-oh-six. And she had a low level of benzodiazepine in her system, as well as lysergic acid diethylamide."

"LSD?" I asked. It wasn't a popular drug of choice anymore. We ran into a lot of ketamine, ecstasy or good old-fashioned crack more than anything else.

"That's right. The amount was negligible, but she used it at some point within the twenty-four hours prior to her death. Same as with the benzo."

The girl didn't look like an addict. She definitely wasn't a needle user, and her teeth were still good.

"She also has a tattoo," Rodgers told us with a grin. _Now we're getting somewhere._ She pulled the sheet back to show us the girl's hip bone. In tiny script writing was a word: _Powodzenia._

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked.

"I'm not even sure what language it is," Liz admitted.

"I think it's Eastern European. Polish maybe."

"Let me guess," Rodgers said. "You speak Polish."

"No, actually. It's one I never picked up. But I've seen it written."

I opened up my phone and punched in Carolyn's number.

"Barek."

"Hey, it's Eames," I said, easily establishing that it was a work call. "I'm looking at a tattoo on a girl. I think it's a Polish word."

"Spell it." I spelled it out for her, and she replied immediately. "Yeah, it's Polish. It means _good luck_."

"Good luck," I repeated to Liz and Bobby.

"Or in this case…"

"Eames, this is on a dead girl?" Carolyn asked me.

"Yeah, why?"

"I just got a new case yesterday. A missing Polish girl."

"You got a name?"

"Daiya Pawlak. Her mom says she's been missing for three weeks. The detectives are writing her off as a runaway."

"I don't know. This girl looks healthy. Or she did until someone beat her to death. We're at the morgue now."

"I'm on my way."

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

Carolyn POV

* * *

I was in Brooklyn, talking to a rather unsavory gentleman, when I got Alex's call. I had been tracking down the detectives' lead that my missing girl was now into the drug scene and had willingly left home.

Luka Milofsky was a small-time dealer and at one time had been a pretty reliable informant for me. He said that Daiya had bought a little acid off of him over the past couple of months, but that she wasn't into much more than that. He said that lately she had been dressing a lot more 'girly' and that about three weeks ago she showed up with a black eye. That was the last time he'd seen her.

I was pretty sure my girl was the one currently on Rodgers' exam table, but I made the trip to the morgue to check it out.

"Carolyn," Liz greeted. "Good to see you again. How's business?"

"Busy. Mike's coming to work with me in another week. I could really use him now," I replied as I approached the table. I had a photo of Daiya that her mother had given me. The mom hadn't mentioned the tattoo, but Daiya was seventeen, so it wouldn't surprise me if she kept it hidden.

"What do you think, Barek?" Goren asked me. He was lurking in the corner of the room reading over what I presumed was the toxicology report.

"It's her," I confirmed as I compared the beaten face with the high school photo.

"Any leads on who might be involved?" Eames asked me.

"I just got this yesterday. But no, not really. Her dealer says he hasn't seen her in three weeks, and when she came by that last time, she had a black eye."

"The mom hasn't seen her in three weeks either?" Goren asked.

"That's right. The dealer was unsure exactly which day, so I don't know which one saw her last."

"There's evidence of recent sexual activity," Rodgers said as she continued her exam.

"She's a kid," Goren said sadly.

"She's seventeen," I told him. "A senior at Clara Barton."

"Still a kid," he replied, tossing the report on the counter. "And she was having sex, dropping acid, popping some Valium or something similar…we need to go talk to her friends."

"Mind if I tag along? I'd like to see this one through."

"No problem."

"I'll have to stop by and make the notification first. I'll let the Brooklyn detectives know that their missing persons case is closed."

An hour later, the three of us stood outside Clara Barton High School. Talking with Daiya's mother had been an emotional experience. She only spoke broken English, but I switched to Polish and let her cry on my shoulder while Goren and Eames waited outside. I did ask her about the tattoo, but she insisted she didn't know anything about it.

"A girl that age, her friends will know more about her than her mother," Alex said as we climbed the steps of the school.

The principal was helpful, providing us with a short list of Daiya's closest friends. One by one, we pulled them out of class and questioned them.

"She was all in to dissing her heritage lately," one girl told me.

"You mean she didn't want people to know she was Polish?"

"Yeah. It never bothered her before, but a couple of months ago, she started working really hard to drop the accent and she wanted to borrow my clothes all the time so that she could look more American."

"Do you know if something happened that caused this? Did someone make fun of her, or…"

"No, nothing like that. But that's when she started doing tranks and getting all trippy. She never used to do anything like that."

"How long have you known her?"

"Since she came to New York. It was about a year ago."

"That's when her and her mom came from Poland?"

"Yeah. It's just the two of them. Her mom works all the time. They live in the building up the street from mine, so we started hanging out."

"Okay. Thanks."

I met up with Goren and Eames back outside the school. Eames was on the phone.

"Looks like Daiya's issues started two months ago," Bobby said to me.

"Yeah, that's what I got, too. We need to find out what happened."

Alex hung up the phone and looked at us.

"We've got another body," she said grimly.

"What? Another girl?"

"This one had an i.d. on her. Eighteen year old Anya Ostrowski."

Anya was in an alley in Brooklyn. It only took us a few minutes to arrive on the scene.

"Looks like the same COD," Goren commented as he bent over the victim. Her face was badly battered.

"She's dressed in a similar fashion to Daiya," Eames said. She leaned down and sniffed. It was such an odd thing for her to do, that I almost laughed despite our circumstances. But then she just looked up at Bobby.

"Same perfume." _Oh_.

"Yep." He took a gloved hand and carefully moved her clothing out of the way in order to see her hip bone. _Powodzenia._

"What the hell is going on here? Someone has a vendetta against young Polish girls?" I asked in frustration. We had to be missing something big.

"This tattoo means more than just good luck," Alex said. And she had to be right. These girls were connected by some sort of club or group that we had yet to discover.

"Is Rodgers on her way?" Goren asked the officer on scene.

"Yes sir. She should be here any minute."

"We'll wait for Rodgers to take a quick look and then head over to Anya's apartment and see what we can find."

"Detectives, we've got to stop meeting like this," Rodgers said a minute later as she came onto the scene.

"You're telling me," Alex said. "Meet Anya Ostrowski."

"She looks an awful lot like the girl we had this morning," Rodgers commented. And she was right. Body type, hair color, clothing style…it was all similar.

"Same COD?" Goren asked.

"I just got here, Detective. Give me a minute." Rodgers went to work and Goren paced.

I stepped aside and called Mike.

"Hey babe, how's the case coming?" he asked.

"It's not looking good. I'm actually working with Bobby and Alex."

"Uh oh. She turned up dead, huh?"

"Yeah. And now it looks like there's a second girl. There's something to this but I just don't know what it is yet."

"You'll figure it out, sweetheart. You always do."

"You finished up for the day?"

"Yeah," he replied easily. Just talking to him seemed to ground me. "You want me to come give you a hand?"

"Oh, that's okay. You've been working twelve hours straight. Go home and get some rest and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Carolyn," he said softly. "I'll meet you. Where are you going to be?"

"We've got to go to the latest girl's apartment. It's in Dyker Heights." I gave him the address, secretly thrilled that he was going to meet me there. This case was striking a chord with me, considering my own heritage. And despite being a self-proclaimed completely independent woman, I felt a calm and a comfort when he was around that otherwise escaped me.

I hung up and stepped back into the alley. The M.E.'s assistant was bagging the body, and Rodgers was deep in conversation with Goren and Eames.

"I'll get to it as soon as I get back," she was telling them. "I'll call you when I know something, but I expect it to be fairly similar findings as to the one this morning."

"I know she wasn't raped, but pull whatever evidence you can from recent sexual activity."

"I will. I already went back and did the same for the other girl."

"Okay. Thanks, Rodgers," Alex said. Then she turned and saw me.

"We're going to Dyker Heights. Are you coming?"

"Yes. Mike's going to meet us there, too. I didn't think an extra set of eyes would hurt. And he's technically on my payroll now, even though he's still finishing out his notice with Deakins."

"Hey, no problem," Bobby said. "We'll take all the help we can get."

It was eight o'clock when we finished at Anya's apartment. She lived meagerly and alone. Her apartment was sparsely furnished, and there was little food in the cabinets. But her closets had decent clothes, dressy clothes.

"Sugar daddy?" Mike suggested as we headed out to find a place to eat.

"Maybe," I mused. "Although usually a rich guy would go the extra mile and put her up in a nice place."

"We'll pull her phone records. Maybe that can get us some kind of lead," Bobby said. Eames was on the phone again, this time with Rodgers.

"Tox report was almost identical to the one of Daiya," she said when she hung up.

"Acid, benzos, and alcohol?" Mike asked.

"Yep. And recent sexual activity."

"Anything else?" Bobby asked.

"Liz said there was some old bruising on her arms. Probably from about a week ago."

"Like someone grabbed her?"

"That's what it looked like."

"Let's go eat. Tomorrow I'm going to hit some tattoo shops and see if anyone recognizes the work."

Dinner was a relaxed affair. We had nearly eighty years of law enforcement between the four of us. We had all learned that when it came to down time, grab it when you could and force the work from your brain.

"So what was with the sympathetic looks Liz was giving you today?" I asked Alex. She rolled her eyes and looked at Bobby.

"I told Ross the other day that Bobby and I had stopped dating."

"What?" Mike asked. "And he bought it?"

"Yeah," Bobby said. "Apparently the consensus is that I would break her heart. Everyone's been feeling sorry for Alex."

"I can't believe that _Alex Eames_ lied," Mike said with a grin. He loved giving her a hard time. Those two were like brother and sister.

"I didn't lie," she insisted.

"Oh no. That's right. Cause you and the big guy here aren't sleeping together anymore," Mike kidded. It was especially funny because Bobby had his arm draped across Alex and they sat without an inch of daylight in between them.

"I never said we weren't sleeping together," she said with a smirk. "I only said we weren't dating."

"So this isn't a date?" I asked, getting in on the teasing.

"This is a dinner between business associates."

"Uh huh."

"Mind your own damn business, Logan," Alex said finally. He threw his head back and laughed.

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to tell me that!"

Bobby had been quiet throughout most of this exchange, and I wondered where his mind was. Probably on Anya and Daiya. As much as I tried to forget about them for the time being, it was difficult to keep from thinking about what might have happened.

"You think they got mixed up with some traffickers?" he asked suddenly, as though we'd been talking about the case all along.

"Sex slaves?" Alex asked. I mulled that over.

"It's possible. Eastern European girls are a hot commodity among those types," I agreed.

"If that's the case," Alex said. "He's killing off his assets. He's going to start looking for more."

TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

**Bobby POV**

* * *

We tossed ideas around with Logan and Barek until after eleven and then we went home with a plan.

In the morning, Carolyn and Mike were going to troll the tattoo parlors to see if anyone claimed the work. It was a long shot, but it was a place to start. Then they were going to go back and talk with Daiya's mother again, as well as Anya's neighbors.

I was going to call Rodgers and have her test our victims' hair for drugs. Since we were considering the possibility of a sex slave ring, we needed to confirm exactly what kind of drug use had been going on and for how long. I hadn't run across a case of that yet where drug addiction hadn't been part of the game.

The fact that both girls were Polish was also a consideration, obviously. We were going to find out the girls' citizenship status and see if we could find where the two girls' lives may have intersected.

Mike was going to help us out over the weekend since he was off of his other job. I think he had become addicted to the hunt again. I had a feeling I would be the same way if I ever left the department. It would be a nice break for awhile, but if I didn't keep doing something similar, I would probably go crazy.

"What do you think of all of this?" Alex asked me as she lay on the couch with her feet in my lap. I rubbed her insoles and stared at the photo of the two of us that she had framed and displayed prominently.

"I think we're on the right track," I answered. "Two young, pretty, seemingly unrelated girls killed in the same manner within twelve hours of each other. It's got to be the sex angle, the Polish angle, or both."

I tore my eyes away from the photo to look at Alex. She had her head resting on the arm and her eyes were closed. Her hair was fanned out behind her and she wore an expression of complete and utter contentment. _How did I get here_, I wondered.

"Alex," I whispered. My tone must have conveyed my inner fears because she immediately opened her eyes.

"What if they're right?" I asked.

She looked at me for a moment, considering my words, but as usual, she followed my train of thought.

"Bobby," she began. She sat up and moved to climb onto my lap.

"I'm serious. I won't mean to. But what if I hurt you? What if I ruin this whole thing?"

She put her hands up on my face and caressed my cheeks.

"Are you going to stop talking to me?" she asked quietly.

"No."

"Are you going to stop treating me with respect?"

"No, of course not."

"Are you going to stop loving me?"

"Never."

"Then we're going to be fine," she assured me. "Because I'm never going to stop doing any of those things either."

I hated feeling so insecure. But Ross never showed concern for anyone, and yet he was worried about me hurting Alex. I put my arms around her and pulled her close, burying my nose in her hair.

"Ross," I began.

"No one else," she interrupted. "_No one_ else knows you like I do. They only see what you show them at work. I know the real you, all of you."

I took another deep breath and let her words sink in. She was right. No one alive knew me as well as she did. And she still wanted to be with me. I had to trust her to know what she was doing.

"You're right," I said finally. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let it get to me."

"Don't be sorry. You're doing exactly the right thing. You're talking to me and telling me what's on your mind."

She shifted then and I couldn't help my body's reaction to her proximity.

"Of course, you don't always have to talk for me to know what's on your mind," she said in a husky voice, pushing herself down harder against me. She started kissing my neck and my face and her hands started roaming...all of my insecurities faded away.

The next morning, Alex called Rodgers and asked her to run the hair test. To our surprise, she told us she had already started it and she should have the report back around lunch time. We said we would come to her office around one.

With that taken care of, we went to 1PP and got started searching the girls' backgrounds.

"Well, here's one link," Alex said after an extended period of time searching. "Neither girl has a green card. Both have visas and have applied for green cards, but they haven't gone through yet. It looks like they both applied in September."

"That seems to be the only connection so far," I replied, flipping through Anya's phone records. "Anya worked in a coffee shop in Queens. Daiya went to school in Brooklyn. Daiya's mom works in a dry cleaners in Manhattan. But here…"

I stopped talking and focused on the numbers. There was one phone number that called Anya almost daily beginning back in September.

"What is it?" Alex asked me.

"Pull this number," I said, calling the digits out to her. She looked it up.

"It's for a place called the Immigration Corporation on Broadway," she said. "Attorneys. I can see why she might call them, but why would they be calling her?"

"And every day? I don't think so. Let's go see Rodgers and then make a visit to the Immigration Corporation."

My cell phone rang, and I took a quick look at the display.

"It's Logan," I told her before answering.

"Goren."

"You are not going to believe this," he said. There was loud music in the background and I could hear people laughing and talking.

"Where are you?"

"I'm in a tattoo parlor. It's like Mardi Gras in here, only everybody speaks Polish."

"Except you," I reminded him matter-of-factly.

"Well, yeah. I'm just standing here, nodding and grinning like an idiot," he admitted. "But Carolyn's having a blast. I may never get her to leave."

"So what have you got?"

"A tattoo artist here remembers putting the ink on the girls. Four of them."

"Four girls? Together?"

"That's right. He recognized Daiya's and Anya's photos. He says the girls came in here about a month ago."

"They all got the same tattoo?"

"Good luck."

"And no guy was with them?"

"Nope. Just the girls. And of course, the girls paid in cash, so there's no record of who the other two are, but he said he thought he remembered what they look like. He's willing to come down to 1PP after his shift and sit with a sketch artist if you want to set that up."

"Absolutely. We need to find those other two girls. Does he have a name or anything?"

"It's been a month. We're lucky he remembers the faces. But he said they were all _seksowna._"

"What the hell is that?"

"Sexy. I guess that's why he remembers them."

"Anya's phone records show daily calls from an immigration attorney."

"She was trying to get her green card?"

"Yeah, but they were incoming calls, not outgoing. Have you ever seen a lawyer who was anxious to talk to someone with no money?"

"Good point. You headed over there?"

"We're going to the morgue first. Rodgers should have the hair test back. Can you escort the tattoo guy down here? I'll clear it with Ross."

"No problem. We'll catch up with you later."

"Thanks, Logan." I hung up and found Alex watching me. I filled her in.

"Four girls?" she asked. "We need to find those other two." My thoughts exactly.

* * *

**Rodgers POV**

I was expecting Detectives Goren and Eames in about ten minutes, so I finished up my lunch and decided to head back to my office. I had my hand on the door, getting ready to leave the break room, when I saw them through the glass. They had just come off the elevator and were heading towards my office. I almost pulled the door open to greet them, but then I stopped.

There was something about the way Eames looked at Goren. I was curious enough about them that I had to stay quiet and watch their exchange.

See, I'd been pulling for them. I had known that Eames was in love with him for years. I also _thought_ that he was in love with her for years, but the poor man had so much going on in his life that I don't think he really ever stopped to consider it.

But there were so many times that I _wondered_. Because sometimes I would be in the room with them and I felt like whole conversations were taking place that I knew nothing about. Looks passed between them that seemed to have an actual physical charge. I was afraid to get in between their line of sight for fear of bursting into flames.

A few months back, when Goren confronted me during an autopsy and vented his rage on my equipment, I was startled. Not afraid, because I knew him enough to know that he would never hurt a woman. But I was definitely taken aback. And the fury he displayed was quite the show.

But then Eames came in. And she said, "_Let's take a walk, Bobby_." And that was it. He calmly went with her and it was all over.

Now, I've been in love before. I _am_ in love.

But I don't think I've ever experienced something like what exists between the two of them. When Danny told me that they had quit dating, he had been relieved. He didn't want to keep the secret. But I was disappointed. And slightly disbelieving.

So when I saw them coming down the hall, I couldn't resist taking a moment to observe them.

Eames looked at Goren and he looked back. They stopped walking and just _looked_. Then she tilted her head towards my office. He shook his head, although the movement was so slight I almost missed it, and then he touched her forearm. Gently, briefly. She smiled at him. He smiled back. She said something, just a word or two. He leaned in closer to her. _Oh my God, he's going to kiss her right there in the hallway_. I should stop watching. But I couldn't. And it's probably because of those damn pictures.

See, I have to admit to having had quite a few dreams about Goren over the past several months. I promised him I wouldn't mention the pictures again, and I won't. I will never break another promise to him for as long as I live. But that doesn't mean those images aren't emblazoned on my brain.

Of course, I won't ever tell Danny that either. He already feels a certain contempt for Goren that I will never understand. And he doesn't know that I ever even _saw_ pictures of Goren, so that will remain my little secret.

And as long as I'm being honest with myself, I've had a dream or two about Mike Logan as well. They are both damn fine looking men, and who can blame me? Especially after seeing those pictures, the ones everyone trusted _me_ to look at because _I'm_ the doctor. Doctor or not, I can appreciate a fine specimen when I see one.

But dreams aside, I _wanted_ Goren and Eames to be together. If anyone belonged together, it was those two. So that was why I was still watching as Goren leaned in close, hovering an inch or two away from Eames. But he didn't kiss her. He bent down and whispered something in her ear. Her smile got bigger. So did his. She reached out and touched his tie. A simple gesture, just smoothing down the fabric. He stood back up and then they turned toward my office again.

I realized that I'd been holding my breath. I let it out and took a moment to gather my composure and stop feeling like a voyeur. I had just intruded on a private moment between two people who were obviously still lovers. I broke out into a huge grin.

_I knew it_.

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

**Alex POV**

* * *

Rodgers came into her office about a minute after we did. She had a half-smile on her face and I was instantly suspicious, but we had more important things on our minds.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Detectives," she said smoothly. "I hope this is what you were looking for." She handed me a two-page report. It was a side-by-side analysis of the substances detected in the hair samples from each girl.

"Ketamine," I said after scanning the report. Bobby read over my shoulder.

"That's right. Both girls showed levels of ketamine up until about a month ago, give or take. It's not an exact science." Hair growth varied too much from person to person to be exact, but the fact that both girls were roughly in the one-month ago range was good enough for me.

"Goren, I think you were right. They're into some kind of sex business, but I think these girls were trying to get out." He nodded at me.

"That's what it's starting to look like. They quit taking the heavy drugs. They started hanging out together and then they went and got tattoos."

"We need to go to that attorney's office. It's the big connection. Thanks, Liz," I said as we turned to leave her office.

"Let me know if I can do anything else," she called after us.

Before we left the morgue, my cell phone rang.

"Eames."

"Where are you and your partner?" It was Ross, of course. _Your partner_. Some days I wanted to tattoo Goren's name on his forehead.

"We're at the morgue. We just got confirmation that both of our victims had levels of ketamine in their systems."

"Well, it may be a trifecta."

"What?"

"We've got another body."

I drove like a maniac to the South Cove. Once the call had come in that it was a young Polish girl, Ross immediately put everything on hold and had the officers on scene standing by to wait for us.

Bobby called Logan while I was driving. He asked him and Carolyn to check out the Immigration Corporation. It might get us more answers anyway if those two poked around as non-cops rather than me and Bobby flashing our shields.

"Logan said they'd go now, and then meet up with the tattoo artist afterwards."

"This is one of those other two girls, isn't it?" I asked rhetorically. We both already knew the answer. She was going to have a tattoo on her hip.

"So this girl had i.d.?"

"There was a purse next to the body," I told him. "Eighteen year old Felcia Dudek."

We arrived on scene and found it to be eerily similar to yesterday's victims. Pretty girl, well-dressed. Her face was bloody and disfigured from the beating she had suffered.

Bobby slipped on a pair of gloves and crouched down next to her.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked him as I knelt down next to him. "Payback for them trying to escape the life?"

"Maybe," he replied thoughtfully. He pushed aside her jacket and sweater and then tugged on the waistband of her skirt, exposing her hip.

"Damn," I muttered when I saw the tattoo. It wasn't like it was a surprise, but still…these poor girls had gotten together at some point. They had gone out and chosen to mark their bodies with a simple phrase. _Good luck_. And now three out of four of them were dead.

"Same perfume," Bobby said. "We need to look that up. It may be another connection."

"Cell phone is still here," I said as I looked through her purse. I opened it up and scrolled through recent calls. "The same number was calling Felcia."

"The Immigration Corporation?"

"Uh huh. It can't be a coincidence," I mumbled as I continued to look through the girl's purse.

"I've got a business card in here," I said, unable to hide my astonishment.

"For who?"

"It's another attorney. Christopher Hanson, Esquire."

"Immigration attorney?"

"No. It says he's a prosecutor in Newark. Essex County."

Bobby and I both stood up and looked at each other, analyzing this new twist.

"A client?" he suggested.

"I think we need to go to Newark and find out."

We didn't wait at the scene for Rodgers this time. She was on the same page with us, and we had no doubt that she would run all of the same tests that she had run on the previous two girls. Instead, we hopped in the SUV and headed for New Jersey.

Logan called when we were about half-way there. Bobby put him on speaker.

"Something's not right here," he told us. "There's a guy here that's just a little too slick."

"You think he's our killer?"

"I don't think he'd want to get his hands dirty. But he's got pimp written all over him."

"The latest girl had the business card of a Essex County prosecutor," I told him. "We're headed there now. If he was a client, and we can convince him that we won't out him publicly, maybe he'll give us the contact name."

"My money's on this guy. Sherman Moser. He's good-looking, in a mama's boy kind of way. And he hit on Carolyn the whole time we were there. He wasn't subtle about it."

"And you managed not to punch him?" I teased.

"Hey, I'm a professional." I barked out a laugh.

"Sure you are, Mike. That's why you threw Jack Quarles into a stairwell last week."

"That was different."

"_Anyway_," Bobby said pointedly, getting our conversation back on track. "So what are we saying here? A high-priced escort service?"

"With forced participation," I added. "And he might be using his immigration connections to threaten them with the possibility of deportation."

"So you think he's hooking them up with rich guys and if they balk, he says he'll send them back to Poland?" Logan asked.

"It fits," Bobby agreed. "Except that our girls must have decided they didn't want to do it anymore."

"And they knew too much for him to let them go."

"Meet that tattoo guy," Bobby said. "We need to find this last girl before they find her. We'll talk with this Hanson guy and get back with you."

It was Saturday afternoon, but Christopher Hanson was in his office. We tried to be discreet because we wanted his cooperation.

"Mr. Hanson?" Bobby asked as we stood in the open doorway of his third floor office. The receptionist had called ahead to let him know of our visit, but he clearly had no idea what it was about.

"Yes, um…Cathy said this was a matter relating to a case, but that you didn't specify which one?" He said politely, gesturing toward the visitors' chairs across from his expansive desk.

He was a decent-looking man in his mid-to-late forties. He wore an expensive suit, a fancy watch, and a wedding ring. I hoped that I was wrong about his affiliation with Felcia because the thought of this otherwise-normal looking man paying for sex with an eighteen-year-old girl just made my stomach turn. I mean, I knew men did it every day, but still...

"Ah, we're not actually here about a case that you're working on," Bobby admitted. He held his badge up briefly before tucking it back into his pocket. "It's actually a case that we're working on."

"Oh." And his demeanor changed. Nervous, fidgety, and much-less courteous. "Well, as you can tell, I'm quite busy. Too many cases, not enough prosecutors. I'm sure you can understand."

"We'll be brief," I said firmly. "Do you know Felcia Dudek?"

"Uh, no. No I don't." His face remained impassive and I almost believed him. But I've been doing this job for too long to be so gullible. And I was tired of playing games.

"So you never paid for her to have sex with you."

"What? No! I'm a married man."

"Which is why we understand that you want to keep this quiet," Bobby said. "If you help us, there is a chance that it doesn't have to leave this room."

"Mr. Hanson," I said. "This is the last time I ask quietly. Did you have sex with Felcia Dudek?"

And then he wilted. He sighed and put his head in his hands for a moment before looking back up at us.

"Yes," he whispered. "Yes, okay? But it was over a few weeks ago."

"When exactly was the last time you saw her?" He paused and thought about it.

"It was three weeks from yesterday."

"And before that?"

"I met her a little more than two months ago. In September. We got together twice a week for about six weeks."

"Got together," I said. "You mean had sex."

"We went out. I would take her to dinner, maybe dancing."

"And then?"

"And then we would go to a hotel."

"Any one in particular?"

"No. It varied."

"How did you meet her?" Bobby asked.

"I met a guy at a bar in Manhattan. Slattery's. He asked me if I was interested in meeting a beautiful woman."

"You mean girl," I clarified. "She was an eighteen-year-old girl."

"I thought she was older," he argued.

"Keep talking," Bobby said. "Who was this guy?"

"Sherman something. He brought her to the bar and we hit it off."

"How much?" Bobby asked him.

"How much what?"

"How much did you pay Sherman so that you could sleep with Felcia?" I asked in a slightly louder voice. Hanson got up and closed his office door.

"Hey, come on! I'm cooperating here!"

Bobby and I just stared intently at him while he went back to his desk.

"A thousand a night." _Holy shit_.

"What happened three weeks ago Friday? Why was that the last time you saw her?"

"She told me she wasn't going to work for Sherman anymore." I looked at Bobby. It sounded like we were on the right track. And I thought we probably had about all we were going to get from this guy.

"So you gave her your business card. You hoped she would call you anyway?"

"I wasn't sure," he admitted. "Can I ask how you found out about me?"

"Felcia is dead. Someone killed her. You want to tell us where you were this morning?"

Hanson had been in his office since seven, and that was confirmed by the sign-in sheet at the front desk, as well as the receptionist and the doorman. We didn't think it was him anyway.

On our way back into the city, I had an idea.

"Hey, Goren," I said. I wanted to make sure he remembered we were working. And that I was Eames his partner, not Alex his lover.

"Yeah Eames?"

"I think I need to go to Slattery's. I want to meet Sherman in his element."

"What's your plan?" he asked. I glanced at him and gave him a quick grin.

"I think I have a wealthy client who is looking for some high class entertainment. And I think Sherman can hook me up."

TBC...


	5. Chapter 5

**Bobby POV**

* * *

Believe it or not, I liked the plan. It was a good one. We needed to meet up with Sherman Moser and see how the whole scenario played out. We also needed to find out who he was working with. If Logan said the guy was not our killer, I believed him. Logan has great instincts. That just meant that Sherman was working with someone else who was our killer.

We were rolling along with this theory of high-priced escorts and it was all falling into place, so despite a shortage of hard evidence, I felt confident. Confident enough to go to Ross and outline our supposition.

"You want to go undercover as someone looking to purchase escorts?" Ross repeated.

He had a way of speaking, stating the obvious or restating something just said, that I found extremely annoying. It made him come across as condescending and I think he liked it that way. He always seemed to want to keep that line between boss and subordinate. And he thought _subordinate_ was in every way, not just employment hierarchy.

"Yes sir," Alex replied. I was glad she was able to converse with him civilly, because I wasn't sure if I could.

"And you're okay with this?" he asked me. I tilted my head at him, somehow thinking that if I changed my angle of perception it might make me dislike him less. It didn't.

"I think it's a viable option. We don't want to move on Sherman too quickly. We may never find out who is running things. If Eames can meet with him as a potential client, she might be able to become privy to the inner workings of the organization. We have no idea at this point how large of an operation this may be. It could be just the four girls we know of, or it could be dozens."

"What kind of sketch were we able to get from the tattoo artist?"

"Felcia was definitely one of the girls. We put a BOLO out for the other girl, but it's still just a sketch. It looks like a couple hundred other girls in the New York area."

"And Hanson?"

"He's not involved," Alex told him. "Felcia kept his card, maybe because he was a lawyer and she thought if she got into trouble he could help her. But other than paying for the services, he's not involved."

"So when do you want to do this?"

"As soon as possible. Saturday night is probably a busy night at Slattery's, so tonight is probably a good choice."

"How much back-up do you need?"

"I don't think we need any for tonight. I'm just going to try to make initial contact. I'll be miked up, but the bar has a row of windows in front, so they'll be able to keep visual contact, too."

"They? Logan and Barek?" Ross asked. "You know they don't work for us."

"They've been helping," Alex said.

"Unofficially."

"Right. They can keep helping unofficially, right?"

"They need to stay in the car with Goren."

"Yes sir."

"I mean it. No pulling their weapons, no chasing suspects. Just listening."

"Of course."

"And if you need more back up, you call me."

"Yes sir."

I followed Alex out of his office and let out a breath. That man just sucked the life right out of me.

"Are we good?" Logan asked from his position behind my desk. He was leaning back in my chair with his feet propped on my desk.

"He's not crazy about it, but he's with us for now," I replied. I looked at the clock. It was nearly five.

"You need to get changed before we go," Logan told Alex. She looked down at her outfit and then quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Have you ever been to Slattery's?" he asked her.

"No."

"Trust me. You walk in there like that and they'll make you for a cop before you pay your cover charge."

"He's right," Carolyn said. I was rather intrigued by her seemingly boundless knowledge of the New York nightclub scene. She must have been quite the player.

"Okay. Let's go to Bobby's. We can get something to eat, and you can give me wardrobe instructions."

"And I'll stop by my house on the way, maybe pick up a couple of things," Carolyn added with a grin. I wasn't sure I was going to like this.

* * *

**Logan POV**

When Eames came out of the bedroom, I couldn't help myself. I had to stare. Because damn, I knew she was a good-looking woman, but I had never seen her quite like this.

She wore a black leather skirt that stopped a couple of inches above her knees. She had on a form-fitting cream-colored sweater and black knee-high boots. Her hair was swept back from her face and her make-up was heavier than normal, but not in a bad way. She looked classy, and sexy, and just downright hot. And I knew I was going to have some trouble getting Goren to let her out of the house.

"Holy shit, Eames. Sherman's going to want to sign you up," I said.

"She looks good, right?" Carolyn said with a smile.

"You sure as hell don't look like a cop anymore."

Goren was speechless. I looked at him and realized it was a damn good thing that Ross had not come on this little adventure with us. It wouldn't take a genius to see that these two were _definitely_ still dating.

"You guys ready?" Eames asked. If she was nervous, she wasn't showing it. I loved that about her. She and Carolyn both had that unflappability about them that was a rare find.

"We'll meet you at the car," Goren said, finally finding his voice. I gave him a questioning look, but he still couldn't take his eyes of off Eames. Carolyn put her hand on my arm.

"Let's go, Mike," she said, shoving me towards the door. I would've given a million bucks to stay. But instead, I followed Carolyn down to the SUV and waited. They came out in a few minutes. Goren looked distracted and Eames looked slightly disheveled, which only served to make her more attractive. I opened my mouth to say something, but Carolyn chucked me in the rib cage, so instead I started up the SUV. It was one of the rare times that Eames let me drive.

"Don't worry about finding Sherman," I told Eames as I drove us into Manhattan. "He'll find you."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Carolyn replied. "If he's in the bar at all, he'll find you. I thought I was going to have to use a paint scraper to get him off of me, and that was just in his office. He's a real slime ball."

"Great," Goren muttered.

"It's fine, Bobby," Alex told him. "I'll let him know that I have a client who might be interested in some entertainment. I'll see if he takes the bait. If he does, I'll set up another meet and then I can bring you in as the client. If he doesn't, I'll come out and we'll come up with plan B."

"Don't leave the bar with him," Goren said. "Try to stay where we can see you, but if you can't, make sure you keep us aware of everything that's going on."

"Bobby," she said quietly. I was straining my ears to hear them.

"I know," he sighed. "_You_ know. It's just…you just…I didn't think about you going in there looking like _that_."

"So you like it?"

"Hell yes I like it," he whispered back to her. I tried to suppress a grin. "I just don't like knowing how much everyone _else_ is going to like it."

"But right now I'm on the job. And later, I'm going home with you," she reminded him. _Good girl, Eames_. I was glad to see that she wasn't getting mad at him.

"Just be careful, okay?"

"Of course."

Twenty minutes later, we were parked outside of Slattery's. We had a good spot, and we were able to see the first eight bar stools inside, so Eames went in with plans to sit in one of those spots.

"She's going to be fine, Bobby," Carolyn told Goren. He was a bundle of nerves in the backseat. "She knows her job."

"I know."

We heard Eames order a vodka martini. She was halfway into it when Sherman approached her.

"That's him?" Goren asked when he saw a man slide into the stool next to her.

"Yeah. Ssshhh."

"_Hey, Beautiful. This must be your first time here because I know I wouldn't have missed a fine-looking woman like you."_

"_It is. And thank you." Eames was using a perfect Boston accent._

"_I'm Sherman Moser. I run this place."_

"_Nice to meet you."_

"_Can I buy you another drink?"_

"_Sure."_

"Watch him make it, Eames. Don't let him out of your sight," Goren muttered.

"Shut up, Goren," I told him.

"_Are you in New York on business?"_

"_Actually, yes. I'm in from Boston. A friend of mine suggested I stop by here."_

"_A friend?"_

"_Chris Hanson."_

"Take the bait, take the bait," Carolyn said softly.

I watched as Sherman slowly and deliberately looked over every inch of Eames. I knew Goren was going to explode any minute.

"_Hanson is a friend? Well, why didn't you say so? Are you interested in buying or selling? Because you're a little older than most of my girls, but you still look pretty damn good to me."_

And then I saw Sherman put his hand high up on Eames' thigh and leave it there for far too long. As he did that, he leaned in and whispered to her, but of course we heard it loud and clear.

"_But you know, first I'll have to take you for a test drive myself."_

Goren was out the door and across the street before I knew what was happening.

"Stop him, Mike!" Carolyn yelled, and I flung myself out of the SUV and ran after him.

"Goren!"

He kept going, making a beeline for the front door.

"Goren!"

I caught him just before he could open the door and threw both arms around him from behind. He shoved me off and then turned around and slammed me into the brick wall. His eyes were wild as he grabbed onto a handful of my shirt and reached back to punch me.

And then he stopped.

"Go ahead," I told him. "If it'll make you feel better. But I'm not letting you go in there after her."

And I didn't care if he hit me, I really didn't. Almost half of my life had been spent as a punching bag, always being the target for someone else's anger. I was used to it.

And Goren was a friend, a good friend. I understood his frustration and his anger and his jealousy – all of it. I knew that he knew Eames could take care of herself. She had been in far worse situations than having some Casanova's hand on her leg. It still didn't make it easier on him.

"I'm sorry," he said finally, letting me go. He turned away from me and started walking slowly back across the street, but not before I had a chance to see the look on his face.

"Goren, wait."

He stopped, but kept his back to me.

"I don't know what it is, Logan," he said quietly. "I never used to be like this."

"Like what? Wanting to punch out a guy that had his hand on your girlfriend's leg?"

"I almost hit _you_. You were trying to keep me from screwing up on the job. And I almost hit you."

"You were overtaken by a moment of jealousy. Happens to the best of us." He gave me a look that was….I don't know. Almost hopeful.

"It happens to you?"

"You know me. I'm the guy that wanted to kill Jack Quarles even before we knew he was dirty. I can't tolerate the thought of some guy having his hands on Carolyn. It's normal," I emphasized.

"But she's supposed to be Eames tonight. Not Alex. I'm having a hard time distinguishing between the two sometimes."

"Hey, you're human. Get over it. You screwed up. It's done."

"She looked so good, I just couldn't get in the right frame of mind," he admitted, and to my surprise, his cheeks reddened. "I wasn't prepared."

"I know it's tough, man. But it's Eames. She can handle him. You know that."

"I know. It doesn't make it any easier to watch."

He walked around to the far side of the SUV and just stood for a moment, taking in deep breaths of cold night air. And then he got in, so I got in too.

"You boys good?" Carolyn asked.

"Yeah."

"Fine."

"Good, because Alex is getting ready to come out. She got Sherman to set up a meeting with the two of them, Sherman's boss, and her wealthy Italian client."

"She did?"

"Yeah, and neither of you are surprised, because you were sitting right here with me the whole time," Carolyn said carefully. "Just listening. Right?"

"Right. The whole time," I agreed. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw Goren watching the entrance. Yeah, it was a damn good thing we didn't have Ross with us.

TBC...


	6. Chapter 6

Alex POV

* * *

Aside from the fact that I felt like I needed a shower, it had been a successful trip into Slattery's. Sherman was interested in setting me up with a few girls for my client. He was going to introduce me to someone higher up than him. It was a productive night.

I climbed into the SUV and immediately felt the tension. Something was going on.

"What?" I asked when no one spoke.

"Nice job in there, Eames," Logan said.

"Monday night?" Carolyn asked.

Bobby was still quiet.

"Yeah, Monday night. Eight o'clock, right back here."

"You guys will have to bring Ross in on it," Logan said. I noticed he looked carefully at Bobby in the rearview mirror.

"We will," he replied. He still wouldn't look me in the eye and I couldn't wait to get him alone so that I could find out what the hell was going on. I wanted to know now, but instead I took a deep breath and called Ross.

"I set up a meeting with Sherman for Monday night," I told him. "He's going to bring in his boss, and I'll bring in my client."

"Good work, Detective. Is your partner going to be the client?" he asked. _What was his deal?_ Did Ross really think that we were so unprofessional that we couldn't work together seamlessly after an attempt at dating?

"Yes, Captain," I replied sharply. It was getting harder and harder for me to hide my irritation.

"I'll arrange for the back up," he said. I thanked him and quickly got off the phone.

Thirty minutes later, Logan pulled up in front of our place. He left the engine running.

"Call us in the morning and we'll work out what we need to cover for the day," Carolyn said.

"Okay. Thanks. Good night."

Bobby muttered his goodnights and followed me into his building. I couldn't wait another minute.

"What's going on?" I asked him as we got on the elevator.

"Nothing."

"Something."

He remained silent. I stood in front of him and put a hand on his chest, pushing him back into the wall. I took my other hand and raised his chin so that he was looking at me instead of the floor.

"You need to tell me."

"I don't know if I can do this, Eames," he said softly.

"Do what?" I asked him. The cold fingers of fear were creeping through my insides.

"This. Us."

The elevator stopped at his floor and he immediately got out, heading for the apartment at a fast pace. I let him go, choosing instead to walk slowly.

I needed to think. _He doesn't mean that_. He's scared. Something happened back there, something more than just hearing Sherman come on to me. But I'll be damned if I was going to let him get away with not talking about it, not after all we'd been through. I felt my anger push away my fear and I burst through the door behind him.

I was so intent on giving him a piece of my mind and forcing him to tell me what had happened that he caught me completely off guard. He slammed the door closed behind me and pushed me into it.

He started kissing my neck and running his hands over my body. I knew he was battling with himself, trying very hard to get over his issues. I kissed him back, meeting his passion as best as I could. I wanted him to work this through, but I also couldn't let sex replace communication, so after a minute of some serious making-out, I carefully eased back. We were both breathing heavy.

"What is it Bobby?" I asked gently, forcing myself to let go of my anger and fear.

"I almost blew it," he admitted. And then he started kissing me again, but if he was going to kiss and talk, then all the better. He roughly pulled at my sweater and managed to get it off of me and then he tossed it behind him.

"I almost came into Slattery's. I saw that bastard put his hand on your thigh…"

He stopped talking for a minute while his own hand reached for my thigh. He stroked me there for a moment while his mouth worked its way across my chest. He wasn't gentle and his beard was rough but the sensations were staring fires in my belly. My mind was a jumbled mass and for a second I couldn't even remember what we were talking about.

"And when he suggested that he…that he would…when he said he wanted to…" He couldn't finish his sentence, but I heard the emotions in his voice.

"Bobby," I said, reaching for his face. I clasped my hands on his cheeks and called to him again. "Bobby, what happened?"

"I got out of the car. Logan stopped me. I almost hit him."

"Logan?"

"I was so mad, I couldn't see straight. I wanted to go smash Sherman's face into the bar, and then Logan grabbed me and so I threw him into the wall and pulled back to hit him. God, Eames, what kind of a man does that?"

My heart broke for him. I could feel his pain as though it were my own. He had so many doubts about himself and while he was making tremendous progress, he was bound to have a setback or two. He had spent too many years shouldering the blame for everyone.

"Bobby, stop it. Stop beating yourself up. I saw Logan in the car. He's not mad at you. He understands. And you didn't actually hit him."

"No," he admitted. "But I wasn't letting you do your job. I couldn't separate the two."

"That's partly my fault," I told him, still holding his face close to mine. I held his gaze, keeping his beautiful eyes locked with mine.

"How in the world is it your fault?"

"You'd never seen me like that before. And I loved how it made you forget your own name. I got you all worked up before we left here. I was Alex. And then I switched it up on you and you had to watch me get hit on by another guy. That wasn't fair of me."

"But, we go back and forth all of the time."

"This was different. And you know it. Give yourself a break, Bobby." He let his eyes fall closed and he sighed deeply.

"This is so hard," he said.

"Don't you dare quit on me," I warned him.

"I'm not. God, Alex, I promise I'm not. I just felt like things were spinning out of control."

"I know," I whispered, pulling his head against my chest and running my fingers through his hair. "It's okay. We made a mistake today. Both of us. But we're okay. And do you know why?"

"Because I talked about it," he replied. "I didn't shut you out." I relaxed marginally. It was only a _minor_ setback.

"I love you," I told him.

"Oh, I love you so much. You have no idea."

"So don't you ever tell me again that you're not sure if you can do this. Do you hear me?"

"I'm sorry. I just felt like I was a train wreck waiting to happen and I didn't want to take you with me. If Ross had been there tonight…"

"I'm going with you," I interrupted. "Wherever you go, train wreck or not. Got it?"

"Got it," he said. And he finally gave me a small smile.

"And Ross wasn't there, but he will be Monday. So let's work off some of this jealousy you're feeling."

His smile got bigger as I started working on his belt.

"How can you not be mad at me?" he asked in amazement. Damn all of the women in his life before me who made him suffer for every minor infraction.

"Didn't we just have this conversation?" I pulled his boxers down with his pants.

"Alex. Really. I'm serious."

"Um…okay. How can I not be mad? Because I love you. And shit happens. Can we focus here? I liked it when you were tearing my clothes off."

And finally, we were good again. He gave me that beautiful smile that I love so much and reached up to pull my hair out of its clip. And then he stuck his hand back under my skirt.

"Can you leave the boots on?" he asked with a mischievous grin. Who am I to deny him anything?

Bobby is hands-down the best lover I've ever had. Ever dreamed about having. And we had spent some quality time up against his front door over the past few months. It was sturdy and made of a good quality wood.

But tonight, I was a little afraid we were going to end up in the hallway. Or that someone would call the cops. Or both. That jealous streak of his brought out an animalistic side to Bobby that I had no idea existed. Okay, I had _some_ idea. But wow. I was going to have marks on me for days, and I guess that was probably the idea. And I have no complaints about that.

"You're looking entirely too happy with yourself," I told him when I finally climbed into the bed next to him. He did look smug, but that was okay. He deserved it. He deserved to know that he could screw up and I wasn't going to persecute him. He could let his emotions get the best of him and yet he still had his friends there to protect him. It was something most people learned as they grew up, something Bobby had been cheated out of.

He smiled at me and I snuggled up next to him. It had been quite a day. But this case was rolling now. We had an in for Sherman. When Bobby and I met with him on Monday, we would be wired. I didn't think we'd be making any arrests yet, because we still needed to find out who was the muscle of the outfit. But we were well on our way. If we could find the fourth girl, I would feel a lot better about everything but so far she hadn't turned up.

"Where do we start tomorrow?" I asked him.

"I want to track the perfume. And talk to some of Felcia's friends and neighbors. Logan and Carolyn struck out with Anya's neighbors, but we still have to try. And Carolyn is going to go back to Daiya's mother's place. They never did make it there."

"How many girls do you think there are?" I mused.

"I don't know. If he's using the threat of deportation, it's hard to say. I wonder if we can get a list of women who have green card applications pending."

"We'll need a warrant, but it's definitely worth a shot."

"I'll be curious to know who Sherman's boss is. They're running a top-dollar business."

I stretched out comfortably and relaxed as Bobby stroked my back. It was so nice to be able to lie in bed and talk about our day or a case. It was one thing I missed about being married, although with Joe it was more that he talked and I listened. And I rubbed his back or his feet or hair. He rarely reciprocated. Bobby loved to put his hands on me and it was wonderful to feel so cherished.

But of course, as was the norm with us, our moment of relaxation was disturbed by the ringing of my cell phone. I guess I had to be grateful it hadn't rang earlier. I rolled across the bed and grabbed it off the night stand.

"It's Ross," I told him so that he would know to be quiet.

"Eames," I answered.

"Sorry to bother you, Detective, but I think maybe your fourth girl has turned up." I closed my eyes.

"Maybe?"

"No i.d. but the officers on scene say she resembles the sketch on the BOLO."

"Where?"

"Port Authority."

"We'll be there as fast as we can."

"So you'll call your partner?"

"Yes, Captain. I will call Detective Goren. I always do," I fired off. The silence that followed lasted an eternity.

"Very well, Detective. Let me know what you find."

TBC...


	7. Chapter 7

Carolyn POV

* * *

"What do you think they're doing right now?" Mike asked, his voice a deep rumble in the darkness. His warm body was plastered up against mine and I was almost asleep.

"Who?"

"Goren and Eames," he replied as though I should have known who he was thinking about. It was odd that he was still thinking about them. It had been a couple of hours since we had dropped them off at their apartment.

"Does it matter?" I asked him. And then it hit me. "You're worried about them."

He shifted as though the idea made him uncomfortable. Mike never really liked for anyone to know that he was a sensitive guy. It had taken me awhile to figure him out. He came across as tough and brash, but that was just a cover.

It was no secret that Mike had a crappy childhood. His mother had beaten him almost every day, right up until the day she died. And I hated her for it. What kind of woman did that? And I know. She was an alcoholic. But that's no excuse, and if the alcoholism hadn't killed her, I would've gladly done it myself.

But growing up with her had made him into the man he was today. The man that I loved. So while I ached for the youthful happiness that he had been robbed of, I appreciated him for the man he had grown into. He was kind and gentle and had such a good heart. He had become very attached to Bobby and Alex both, so I could appreciate that he was worried about them, especially considering the tension between them in the car.

"I am, yeah," he admitted. "Goren usually likes to beat himself up pretty good."

"They'll be okay. Alex wasn't mad at him," I said. He was quiet for a moment, but his fingers continued stroking my arm.

"I know. It's hard on him, trying to treat her like a partner and not his woman."

"His woman, Mike? Really?" I asked, letting a laugh escape. I couldn't resist the tease.

"You know what I mean," he replied, although I could tell he had relaxed a little.

"Yeah, I do," I admitted.

"I wanted _you_ back when we were partners, but I don't know how I would've handled it if you had wanted me _back_."

"Oh, I wanted you," I told him.

"You what?"

"I used to dream about you every night." A slight embellishment maybe, but close enough to the truth that I didn't feel bad about saying it.

"You did not," he insisted.

"You want to know what my favorite one was?" I asked him, turning over so that I could face him. I pressed a kiss onto his chest and reached my hands around to grab his hips and pull him even closer.

"Your favorite dream? About me?" His veneer of self-confidence was mostly an act. He was always surprised to learn how much I loved his looks, his body, and his mind.

"Uh huh…" I kissed my way along his throat and around to his ear. His ears were a weak spot and I loved to exploit it.

"Tell me," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"Well, we're in the conference room at 1PP. You've just made an incredible breakthrough on a case, and you turn to me and give me one of your looks."

"I have looks?"

"Baby, you have got some serious looks. This one just melts my socks off, so I go over and close the blinds, and then I reach around you and lock the door." As I spoke, I pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him.

"After I lock the door, I push you up against it and kiss you," I told him, leaning down to kiss him just like I was in our fantasy. I thrust my fingers into his hair and got into the moment, conveying to him just how much I wanted him. He grabbed my hips and moved me just enough so that he could slide into me.

"I wasn't there yet," I whispered, although I wasn't about to argue. He felt too good, and I forgot all about telling him my dream.

"I couldn't wait. I wish I'd known you were thinking about me back then. We wasted so much time."

"I still wouldn't have done this in the conference room," I teased as I set a gentle rhythm. Truth be told, it was probably a good thing that we had waited. I didn't envy Bobby and Alex attempting a relationship while under the scrutiny of the brass at 1PP.

"Oh, we would have done it there," he countered, his bravado back in place. "I might've even laid you out across Deakins' desk."

I laughed fully now at the thought of our old boss, and Mike's current boss, catching us in his office. I loved that we could talk and laugh while we made love. It made it so much more intimate.

"You still work for Deakins," I challenged him. "I'll go with you to work on Monday. And then we'll see how bold you are."

"Bring it on, sweetheart," he grinned.

A little while later, once I was slightly sweaty and completely satisfied, Mike pulled me back into his arms.

"So what do you think they're doing right now?" he asked again.

"Probably the exact same thing we are," I told him, chuckling at his relentlessness. "I'm sure Bobby worked off his jealousy the same way you like to. They'll be fine."

"Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry. I guess I'm obsessing a little."

"A little, yeah. You did a good thing with Bobby tonight," I told him. I had seen the exchange up against the wall of Slattery's. Mike had kept his cool.

"I hope I got through to him. He didn't talk at all in the car."

"You did. You're a good guy, Mike." I gave him one more kiss and then snuggled my back against his front. And then the phone rang. In our line of work, a call coming in after midnight was never a good thing.

"Yeah?" Mike answered. "Shit…okay. Where?...We'll meet you there."

He hung up and sighed heavily.

"Alex?"

"Goren. There's a body at Port Authority."

"Oh no. Our last girl?"

"He wasn't sure. He and Eames are getting ready to head over there now, but the captain told them the victim's face matched the BOLO. I told him we'd come."

"Of course," I said as I climbed out of bed. Another poor girl. My heart was breaking for them. And I was ready to flay whoever was responsible.

We both got dressed quickly and headed for Port Authority. Traffic was heavy despite the hour, so it took us awhile. We finally made it and hurried over to the crime scene tape. I knew that Bobby and Alex were already there because I'd seen their SUV, but the officer keeping up the perimeter didn't want to let us in.

"Goren!" Mike yelled unceremoniously. Bobby was fifty yards away, hunched over the body of a young girl, but he heard Mike and stood up.

"Let them in, Shiflett," he told the cop. The officer gave us a dirty look, but he stood back and let us pass. I almost missed the old days where I had a badge to flash.

Alex was wandering around in close proximity to the body and Bobby went back to his crouched position.

"Is it her?" I asked. It made me sad to know that I didn't even have a name for her. I guess I would soon enough.

"I don't think so."

"Really?" Mike asked. We had both been fully expecting it to be the fourth girl.

"This one is different," Alex spoke up, finally acknowledging us with a nod. "No perfume, no tattoo."

"Do we know for sure that all four girls got the tattoo?" Bobby asked. I nodded.

"That's what the guy said. And he was pretty forthcoming about everything else."

"No i.d. anywhere?" Mike asked. He went to help Alex search the area. I squatted down next to Bobby.

"Does this girl look Eastern European to you?" he asked me. I gave her a good look. Her face had been beaten, but not as badly as the others. Her clothes were torn. Her nails were chewed down and unpainted.

"No. And she's not made up like the others. This girl looks…something. I don't know. South African maybe."

"So not part of our group. So someone else is killing teenage girls," Bobby said sadly. He stood up and I followed him.

"Are you okay?" I asked him quietly so that the others couldn't hear. I wanted to know for myself, but also for Mike. Bobby looked up at me quickly and caught my gaze.

"I'm okay. I'm sorry about earlier."

"I don't need an apology. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Mike was worried. So was I." Bobby looked at me with surprise, seemingly unused to anyone being concerned about him. He and Mike were two peas in a pod.

"I'm fine," he assured me. "But thanks for asking."

"Any time you need to talk…" I said, leaving the offer out there.

"Eames and I…we um…worked things out," he said, a blush creeping up his cheeks. He was just too cute.

"Good. I'm glad to hear it," I replied with a smile.

"Purse in the dumpster," Mike said suddenly, interrupting our chat. He approached us, digging through the contents. After a moment, he pulled out a wallet. "Monique Bastock. She's got a New York University student i.d. card."

"So definitely not our girl," Alex said as she came up to us.

"No. We'd better call it in to the captain so they can get someone else out here. We've got enough on our hands with the case we've got."

So, two hours after I left my warm comfortable bed, I was finally back in it.

"Bobby's fine," I told Mike before he could ask. And then I smirked a little. "Did you see the hickeys on Alex's neck?"

"What? No. You're kidding."

"I'm not kidding. I'd say everything is just fine between them. But it was sweet of you to worry."

A few hours later, the phone rang again. Mike didn't budge, so I climbed over top of him to grab the phone off the nightstand.

"Yeah. Barek," I answered sleepily as I looked at the clock. Five-thirty. And it had been after two when we'd finally gotten back into the bed.

"Ms. Barek?" a woman's voice asked, speaking in heavily accented English. I sat straight up in the bed and chucked Mike hard so that he would wake up.

"Yes, this is Carolyn Barek."

"This is Magda Pawlak. Daiya's mother."

"Yes, of course Mrs. Pawlak. Are you okay? What can I do for you?"

"I did not know who to call. I did not want to call other detectives," she said, struggling to say the right words. I spoke to her in Polish so that she would be more comfortable.

_"It's fine. I'm glad you called. What's wrong?"_

_"A man called my house last night. I'm sorry. I should have called you right away, but I didn't know what to do."_

"_It's okay. What did the man say?"_

"_He told me that Daiya owed him money and I needed to pay. Six thousand dollars."_

_"Did he give you his name?"_

_"No. He said he would call again at twelve o'clock, and that I had to give him the money or he would kill me, too, just like Daiya."_

TBC...


	8. Chapter 8

Logan POV

* * *

I was used to getting by on very little sleep, so the two and a half hours on Saturday night were enough for me. After Carolyn jabbed me in the ribs, I listened to the rest of her conversation and gave my mind a chance to wake up. Of course, she was speaking in Polish so I didn't understand a damn thing she was saying, but I can never get enough of listening to the sound of her voice. And something about a woman speaking another language that gets me fired up.

Of course, there was no time for that now. She hung up the phone and translated the conversation.

"They're going to shake down the grieving mother for six grand?" I asked in disbelief.

"Daiya must have kept some of her income before she tried to split. We need to get over to her house and do another search of her room."

"And then wait for the call."

"Right."

"Are we going to call Goren and Eames?" I asked as I climbed out of bed and headed for the shower.

"If we do, they'll need to tell Ross."

"If they tell Ross, he'll have cops crawling all over the place. This needs to be done quietly. If we can grab the hired muscle, maybe we can save that fourth girl."

"I know. What do you think? Will it put them in too much of a bind if we ask them to keep it quiet?"

"I'd be willing to bet they won't give a rat's ass about keeping Ross in the loop. I know Eames was ready to spit nails last night when he called them out without confirming the girls' identity."

"Yeah, I know. It took us ten minutes at the scene to secure that i.d. The beat cop could've done that."

"That's what she said," I told her.

I reached in and turned on the shower water, letting it warm up while I brushed my teeth.

"Let's call them," I decided. "They know how to walk the line without falling too far on the other side."

Carolyn gave me a quick kiss and then went into the other room to make the call. I took a second to thank a God that I didn't believe in for bringing Carolyn into my life. She was without a doubt the best thing that had ever happened to me, and I was determined to spend the rest of my life trying to be a good enough man for her, the kind she deserved.

I looked at myself in the mirror and wondered what she saw in me. And then I gave myself a mental kick in the ass and got in the shower. Whatever it was, I was grateful. And there were plenty of people out there who had bigger problems than I did, so I needed to quit thinking like a damn woman and get moving.

"They're going to meet us there," Carolyn said, slipping into the shower behind me.

"You keep rubbing up against me like that and we're not going to make it," I teased.

"I'm simply trying to conserve water," she replied innocently. "And you take up too much room. Keep your hands to yourself."

"Now where's the fun in that?" I asked as I turned and reached for her. She put up a token protest, but only so that she could maintain that I was the insatiable heathen and not her. Whatever. She's the one that got into the shower with me. What did she expect?

We still got to the Pawlak house by seven. Goren and Eames were parked a couple of blocks away and around the corner. They were waiting in the car, so I parked and we walked over to their SUV.

"You guys need to take the lead on this," Goren said when he rolled down his window. "If this guy is anyone we might see tomorrow night, we can't afford to get made."

Eames reached across the seat and handed me some equipment.

"Get her phone wired up. We'll listen from here. If we have to follow, we'll stay at a distance."

"Okay. Did you bring the money?" Eames nodded and reached in the back seat. She pulled out a paper sack. I looked in and saw a stack of bills.

"I feel like I need to be giving you something," I joked. "A bag of weed? Oral sex?"

"Oh my God, Mike. Shut up," Carolyn said as she shoved me out of the way. She leaned in the window to talk to Eames.

"He's in a weird mood today. Ignore him," she told her, smiling sweetly. But Eames was laughing. She appreciated my sense of humor. Even Goren cracked a smile.

"Be careful," Goren said. "We have no idea what to expect here. If we lose the money, then we lose the money."

"We're going to search the girl's room again. We may find the money in there. She put it somewhere. It wasn't on her when she was killed or they'd already have it."

"Unless they're screwing each other over," Eames suggested. "The killer could have taken it and then told the boss that she didn't have the money on her."

"And now they're double-dipping?" I asked. I hadn't thought of that.

"Maybe. It happens."

"Alright. We're going in. We don't have any way of knowing when they'll start watching the place. They could be watching already just to make sure she doesn't call the cops."

"Sherman knows you two," Goren reminded us.

"Yeah, but if it's him, he won't be surprised to see us," I told them, leaning back into the window. "Carolyn told him she's a private dick."

We left Goren and Eames in their car and headed for the Pawlak apartment. The mom looked like she hadn't slept a wink. She let us in right away. Carolyn immediately started chatting her up in Polish, pumping her for more details, so after setting up the wires to the phone, I headed down the hall and found Daiya's bedroom.

A little newsflash about me - I'm a closet softie. Carolyn's figured that out, and I had a feeling that Eames was on to me as well. But the truth is, not much gets to me more than having to look through the bedroom of a dead kid. It truly sucked. It was one thing that never got any easier, no matter how long I was on the job.

And here I was again, puttering around the room of seventeen-year-old Daiya Pawlak. She had a pink bedspread, flowered wallpaper, and a poster of Natalie Coughlin on the wall. It was obvious her mom had made an effort to give her a nice room, but I couldn't help but notice what was missing. No laptop, no TV, no phone. The things most girls her age had these days. Money was clearly a rare commodity for them and I wondered what Daiya had planned to do with the pilfered six grand. Pilfered. Huh. I had to correct myself. If she was the escort, then it was her money. I didn't blame her for trying to hang on to it.

I got down on my knees and looked under the bed. A pair of worn sneakers, a CD, and a lone sock. I pulled out the CD. Taylor Swift. So she liked country. Or maybe not, since it was under the bed.

Her dresser was clean, her bed made, and there were still dirty clothes in the hamper. I pulled them out. Jeans, sweaters, sweatshirts…and in the bottom was a sock. A very full sock. I pulled out the sock and looked inside. There was a neat stack of hundred dollar bills.

I drew the money from the sock just as Ms. Pawlak came into the room. She sucked in a surprised breath and put her hand to her mouth.

"_Po ile to jest_?" she said in a horrified whisper. I looked at Carolyn.

"How much it is?" she translated. She put her hand on the woman's shoulder to settle her down. It was probably more money than she'd ever seen in her life.

"Six thousand," I told them after I counted it. Almost as though on cue, the phone rang. Her house phone. I switched on my mike and roused Goren and Eames.

"Looks like we're up," I told them. It was eight-thirty.

"They're early," Goren said.

"Uh huh. Do you see anyone?"

"No. Eames?"

"Where's Eames?" I asked, confused that he asked her what she saw if she was sitting next to him.

"I'm here," she replied. "I got out and went around the backside of the building. They won't make me. And there's no one here." I was curious, but I didn't ask.

The phone was still ringing, and Carolyn was ushering Ms. Pawlak into the living room.

"Nie mogę tego zrobić," she was mumbling. I got the gist of it.

"Yes you can," Carolyn said. "You'll be just fine. Just tell him you have the money, and ask him where to meet. We'll be listening so don't worry about trying to remember anything."

She turned and gave me a look of utter dread and then she picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ms. Pawlak," the voice said. It was coming through loud and clear. "Do you have my money?" I was surprised he was saying 'my' and not 'our'. I quirked an eyebrow at Carolyn and she nodded subtly.

"Yes. Yes I have money."

"Good. There's a trash can next to a row of newspaper boxes on the west side of the Brooklyn Public Library. Put the bag in the can and then walk away."

"In trash can?" she asked uncertainly. I was glad she asked, because it was confusing instructions and even though we had it on tape, it would seem suspicious if she didn't question it.

"That's right sweetheart. Put it in the trash can and walk away. No cops, okay? I know where you live."

"Okay. I do it."

"Nine-thirty. You got one hour."

And then we had dead air.

"That wasn't Sherman," Eames piped in.

"No, definitely not. He had a Jersey accent," Carolyn said.

"Hanson?"

"No," Goren said. Eames agreed.

"Hanson didn't have a Jersey accent at all. He spoke like he didn't want anyone knowing where he was from."

"You mean like maybe Poland?" Carolyn asked suddenly. There was silence for a minute.

"No, I don't think so," Goren said. "I don't see Hanson being in on this."

"Still, it's worth a look," I added.

"It's always worth a look," Eames agreed. "But if he was in on it, Sherman would've picked up on it. I used his name to get my foot in the door."

"Unless he's playing along just to see what you know."

"If that's the case, then we could be screwed tomorrow night."

"We'll check it out to make sure," Goren said. "But so now we have Sherman, his boss, and this guy. Did you notice he said 'my money' and not 'our money'?" I couldn't stop a quick grin. I loved it when I noticed the same things he did.

"Yeah, I caught that," I replied. "So where does that put us? Boss man or muscle?"

"This is too low class for the boss man," Carolyn said. "It's got to be the muscle."

"Eames and I are going to head on over to the library and find a good spot to watch the trash can," Goren said. "We'll find out soon enough who's behind it."

"We'll be right behind you."

Carolyn and I left Ms. Pawlak with the six grand from the laundry hamper. I would give Eames back her money. I never asked where she got it from, but I had a feeling that she didn't have extra to spare.

We drove to the library and gave Daiya's mom strict instructions. Leave the house in thirty minutes. Drive to the library. Park near the front. Walk to the trash can. Drop in the bag. Go back to the car. Go back home. Absolutely do not look around and do not stop. I told her twice in English and Carolyn told her a third time in Polish, so I hoped she would get it straight. It was tough to follow simple instructions sometimes when you were scared out of your mind.

It took me a minute to spot Goren and Eames. She was wearing a Red Sox baseball cap with the brim pulled down low. She sat sideways on a bench with her feet stretched out in front of her. She had a psychology text book opened up on her lap and she had her head down as though she was absorbed in the text.

Goren had on an old overcoat and a stocking hat and was loitering near the stairwell to the front door of the building. He was talking to himself and pacing back and forth. He had a Styrofoam coffee cup and he was thrusting it at people as they passed.

Carolyn and I took a seat at the bus stop. I put out my arm and snuggled her close. We both kicked out our legs in front of us like we didn't have a care in the world.

And then we waited.

TBC...


	9. Chapter 9

**Alex POV**

* * *

Daiya's mother made the drop exactly as instructed, so now all we had to do was follow whoever picked up the money.

I'd been sitting on the bench for nearly twenty minutes when two things happened.

A couple of beat cops approached Bobby. And I saw a man cautiously walking down the street toward the trash can.

I looked at Bobby and watched as he mumbled something to the cops. They laughed and one of them grabbed him by the arm. I glanced quickly back at the man. His steps were slowing. He had seen the cops. _Shit_. We had to get them out of there.

I started to move from my spot when I saw Carolyn dash from the bus stop.

"Hey! Leave my brother alone!" she called out. _Nice move_.

I caught Logan's eye and then glanced at the man before looking back at Logan. He nodded slightly.

Carolyn was hurrying one of the cops down the road while the other followed with Bobby in tow. I guess she was trying to convince them not to arrest him for panhandling and at the same time she was getting them away from the trash can.

The man on the sidewalk picked up speed again as the cops moved further from the trash can. As he approached, I was able to get a better look at him. About six-two, roughly two hundred and twenty pounds, dark brown shaggy hair. He wore jeans, boots, and an old fatigue jacket.

Logan stood up and looked at his watch as though the bus was late. I closed my textbook and stretched my legs.

The man stopped at the newspaper box and bought a Post. Then he reached into the trash can and took the bag.

He looked around again and started heading back in the direction from which he had come.

Bobby and Carolyn were now a block away and still in a heated discussion with the cops, who were undoubtedly being jerks.

The man passed me without a second glance. I gave him about ten yards and then I got up and followed. Logan was on the other side of the street, but about even with me. The man turned left down Underhill Avenue. Logan crossed the street and followed with us, trailing about five yards behind me.

Foot traffic was heavy and I was having a hard time keeping my eye on his shaggy hair. It helped that he was tall, but not enough. It was a sunny and temperate Sunday afternoon in an otherwise chilly December, so people were out enjoying the day.

The next thing I knew, he was closer to forty yards ahead of me and he rounded the corner onto Prospect.

"Come on," Logan said, grabbing me by the sleeve. We started jogging down the sidewalk, dodging pedestrians. And then we started running. My hat blew off my head, but there was nothing I could do about that.

Stride for stride, we barreled down the sidewalk and skidded to a stop as we made the turn at Prospect.

And there, only half a block away, stood Sherman. The man was talking to him, holding out the bag. They were making the exchange right there on the sidewalk. And I was in plain sight.

All he had to do was turn his head my way…

Panicked at being made, I quickly grabbed Logan by the front of his shirt and backed us up into the storefront. And then I kissed him.

To his credit, he kept his mouth closed. And he actually resisted for a second, but then he must have realized my plan because he put his hands on the wall on either side of my head and shifted his body to help block Sherman's view of me.

I pulled back for a second, keeping Logan's head close to mine.

"Now I see why Goren likes being your partner," he rumbled.

"Shut up, Mike," I whispered back. "It was that or get made. I'm not going to ruin our chances of catching this guy tomorrow night."

"Is this what you two do on stakeouts?" he asked with a grin. I knew he couldn't help himself, so I resisted the urge to slug him.

"Move your head back just a little so I can see what they're doing."

Logan did as I asked and I was able to see the two men still standing in the same spot.

"Now what?" he asked.

"We stay here until they leave. If we can follow the pick-up guy, then we will."

"Does that mean you're going to kiss me again?"

"Just shut up and keep your head close," I said on a sigh. I was never, ever going to live this down. I wasn't too worried about Bobby. I knew he would understand, but Logan…

For five minutes I stayed plastered against the wall with Logan pressed up against me. He cracked jokes the whole time, and eventually I realized that was a good thing. It made the situation a whole lot less uncomfortable and it didn't take long before he had me chuckling quietly against his chest.

But it all turned out to be pointless. Sherman turned to leave and headed towards us at which point I buried my head tighter into Logan's chest, hugging him close and keeping my face in his jacket. We waited a minute to be sure he had passed, and when we looked back toward the other man, he was gone.

"Shit," I said softly. "Come on, let's go back and get Carolyn and Bobby. Hopefully he's not under arrest.

* * *

**Bobby POV **

I watched Ms. Pawlak drop the sack in the trash can. She did everything right, so now we just had to wait for someone to pick it up.

I saw a couple of beat cops coming up the street, so I set down my cup and walked away from it. I didn't need to get hassled. I quit with the crazy act and started to go up the steps of the library. But they had other ideas.

"Hey buddy!" one of them called out. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, just going into the library, Officer."

"Now why in the world would you go into a library? I bet you don't even know how to read." They both laughed it up. _Yeah, ha ha._

"I can read just fine. I'm going to check out some books."

"You got a library card?" Now, why did they have to be assholes? I just needed them to leave the area so that the pick-up guy wouldn't be scared away.

"Is it against the law if I don't?"

"Alright, buddy. Come on," the officer said. Taggart, his name tag read. I was going to remember that. He grabbed me by the arm and started walking me down the steps.

"Come on, man. I'm a cop," I told him quietly since it was obvious they weren't going to leave me alone.

"Oh, is that right?" Taggart laughed. He looked at his partner. "He's a cop, Woody. I guess we'd better not arrest him then."

"Arrest me? For what?"

"For getting on my damn nerves," Woody said. Taggart laughed again. I started reaching under my heavy overcoat to find my badge. I didn't want to show it right here so close to the trash can, but these guys were being unbelievable.

"Hey, now don't be reaching in your pockets!" Taggart said sharply.

"Hey! Leave my brother alone!" It was Carolyn. I looked her direction and saw her hustling across the street towards us.

"This is your brother?" Woody asked her. She smoothly moved the officer down the block, away from the trash can, while she talked to him about me. Taggart still had a hold of my arm and he pulled me along, following right behind them. Well at least we were moving in the right direction.

"I'm sorry, Officer," she said loudly. "I usually keep a better eye on him, but he got away from me this morning."

By this point we were finally far enough away from the trash can that we felt we were no longer endangering the operation. Carolyn's whole demeanor changed.

"Officers Taggart and Woody is it? You two are interrupting a police operation," she said harshly. "And even if he weren't a cop, you were harassing a man for no apparent reason other than to get your rocks off."

"You really are a cop?"

"I tried to tell you. I'm with Major Case." I pulled out my badge.

"You're out of the six-nine, right?" Carolyn asked. "I know the captain over there. I think I need to give him a call."

"I need to confirm that badge," Taggart said. "And where's yours?" he asked Carolyn.

"She's a private consultant," I told him.

"Uh huh. Right. I'm calling my captain."

Carolyn rolled her eyes at me, but we followed them to their squad car. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Alex and Mike were walking away from us down the street, no doubt in pursuit of the man who had picked up the money. _Shit_. And now this guy was going to call into his captain who was going to call into _our_ captain. I hoped like hell that Alex and Mike could catch the guy. If we had to admit to this covert operation and still came up empty handed, we were going to be in some serious trouble.

Twenty minutes later, I had my answer and it wasn't good. Alex and Mike came back empty handed.

"What happened?" Carolyn asked.

"I kissed Eames," Logan blurted out. That was literally the last thing I would have ever expected to come out of his mouth. I was speechless.

"I meant with the pick-up guy," Carolyn replied slowly with a confused look on her face.

"Nice, Mike," Alex told him. She rolled her eyes and then looked at me. "We ran into Sherman. He was going to make me."

My mind raced through a dozen possible outcomes to this scenario. Most of them involved me completely over-reacting and punching Mike. They also involved Alex getting pissed off and me realizing what an idiot I was being.

I took a deep breath and realized that everyone was staring at me. No one seemed worried that Carolyn was going to flip out about it.

"Did it work?" I asked.

"Yeah," Alex replied. "He didn't see me. But we also lost the other guy."

"We got a good look at him though," Logan said. "We can get a sketch made up, but I'm betting you'll see him tomorrow night. This wasn't a double-cross. He handed the money over to Sherman."

"Okay," I said. I was going to be adult about this. This was Eames. And my best friend Logan. I wasn't going to be jealous.

The four of us started walking back towards our vehicles, but everyone was quiet.

"No more pairing up with Logan," I said to Alex, giving her a smile so that she could see I was teasing. She breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Bobby, you know…"

"I know. You don't have to say anything."

"You hardly ever do," Logan muttered. It drove him crazy that we talked without words. I had to laugh.

"Hey, so what happened with the cops?" Alex asked suddenly. I almost forgot about that.

"It's possible that we may be in a little bit of trouble," I said.

"What kind of trouble?" she asked warily. My cell phone rang. _Ross._ The boss man had impeccable timing. I held up my phone to show her the display.

"Those cops checked out my badge. I'm sure the captain knows we're up to something."

"Want me to get it?" she offered.

"Answer my phone when Ross is calling? I don't think so. That'll just make it worse."

"Take it like a man, Goren," Logan said with a slap on my back. Huh. Easy for him to say.

"Goren," I answered on the fifth ring.

"What are you doing, Detective?" he asked me with barely-controlled anger.

"I'm on my way to 1PP right now," I told him.

I hadn't been. But now I was.

I had no doubt that whatever Ross had been doing on a Sunday afternoon, one call from the captain at the six-nine explaining that his officers had tried to arrest me for panhandling and basically acting crazy…well, let's just say I'm sure he put on his suit and went straight to the office.

"Good choice, Detective. And you may as well bring your partners in crime along with you."

TBC...


	10. Chapter 10

**Bobby POV**

* * *

Alex and I got into the SUV. Going to 1PP felt a little like heading for the guillotine.

But before we left our parking spot at the library, Alex reached over and kissed me. It wasn't a quick one. It definitely wasn't from Eames.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"For understanding," she replied simply as she turned back to start the engine. I smiled at her and relaxed a little.

Being with her made it a little easier for me to deal with Ross. She gave me something in life besides the job, so I didn't have to panic so much over being in the hot seat. Realizing that, I relaxed even more.

And because I knew that kissing Logan had probably bothered her more than it bothered me, I had to tease.

"Is that how you kissed Mike?"

"What?" she asked, nearly ramming into the car in front of us. "No!"

She looked at me as soon as she could pull her attention from the traffic. She saw the grin on my face.

"Oh my God. Not you, too," she moaned. "I thought Logan was going to be the one that gave me a hard time about this."

"Well, I was just wondering if I should be worried. Was he better than me?"

"I'm not even going to answer that," she huffed.

I leaned across the seat and ran my hand up her leg. I was enjoying watching her get flustered, and I was also quite pleased with myself. I had handled this situation so much better than I would have thought. And after last night, it was a relief to me to know that I did have some control over my emotions.

As my hand continued to climb closer to the promised land, she clamped her own hand over top of mine.

"What are you doing, _Goren?_" she asked.

"Uh uh," I said. "It's Bobby."

I shifted in the seat and got closer to her, running my other hand along the back of her neck and up into her hair.

"So, solving cases gets you hot…and you hearing that I kissed another man gets you going, too? What else?"

"Maybe I just feel the need to reestablish my claim."

"On me?" she asked incredulously.

"Alex," I whispered into her ear, knowing how much it drives her crazy. "I'm getting ready to go get my ass chewed out by Ross. Give a dying man his last wish, will you?"

"You forget that my ass will be right there with you," she reminded me. But she let go of my hand so that it could continue its exploration.

"I could never forget about your ass," I told her, moving her hair aside so that I could assault her neck. "Hey, what happened to your hat?"

"I lost it when we were running after the pick-up guy."

"Hmm…I liked that hat. I'll have to get you another one."

"So I can wear that and nothing else?" she asked with a smirk.

"There's nothing wrong with our psychic connection today. Do you know what else I'm thinking?" I whispered.

"I've got a pretty good idea."

* * *

Logan pulled into the garage at 1PP right behind us.

"How are we going to play this?" Carolyn asked as we entered the building.

"Ms. Pawlak didn't call the police. She called you," Alex replied. "You called us for help because we're your friends. We were there in an unofficial capacity."

"And I might file a grievance against those officers," I added. "They were harassing me just because they thought I was homeless."

"You definitely need to file a complaint," Carolyn said. She was pretty riled up about the whole thing, and I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this more than I'd first thought. I was kind of looking forward to seeing her go toe to toe with Ross. After all, what could he do to her? She had nothing to lose.

We got visitor passes for Carolyn and Mike and then rode the elevator up to the eleventh floor.

"Just in case," Alex said, pulling out her cell phone. She typed a quick text and then put the phone away. I quirked an eyebrow at her but before she could explain, Ross met us halfway across the bullpen.

"My office, Detectives," he said. _As if that wasn't why we were there_.

"You guys, too," he added, pointing at Carolyn and Mike. The four of us went into his office and waited while he closed his door. Of course, he then went around his desk and stood behind it.

"Somebody needs to explain."

"Well…" Logan began.

"I didn't mean you," Ross snapped. "I meant someone who works for me."

"Captain…" Alex said. Ross held up his hand.

"No, you know what? I want to hear it from your partner. He's the one who got picked up for being, and I quote _a lunatic hanging out in front of the library_."

"Sir, I wasn't doing anything wrong. I was simply trying to not look like a cop while we waited for an extortionist to make a pick-up."

"So you were undercover," he clarified. "On a police operation without notifying your captain."

"It wasn't really a police operation," Carolyn said. Ross turned on her.

"Not a police operation? So you weren't using wires and communications devices? You weren't staking out a drop point for a wad of cash that was going to be picked up by a criminal? Do I need to remind you, Carolyn, that you no longer work for this department? Or for any law enforcement agency, for that matter."

Okay, now I wanted to run. Because as annoying as Ross is, I'm not afraid of him. I think that maybe I'm a little afraid of Carolyn.

She took a step closer to the desk and put her hands on her hips.

"Why no, _Danny_, you don't," she shouted back.

"Carolyn," Mike warned. She waved a hand at him, but never took her eyes off of Ross.

"I was acting as a private agent, a consultant hired by the victim of this crime. A woman was being extorted, and I simply called in a few friends to help me out. We didn't use any NYPD issued equipment, and we never identified ourselves as police until those jerk off cops from the 6-9 started hassling Bobby. So no, Danny, you don't need to remind me of anything. Maybe _I_ need to remind _you_ that I don't work for you."

When she finished, the room was silent. I wanted to clap, but I thought it might be inappropriate.

Carolyn and Ross stared each other down, and I had a feeling he was wishing he had talked to me and Alex alone. At least he had the upper hand with us, since he was our boss.

Alex's cell phone rang, shattering the silence. She looked at the display.

"I should…um…probably um…get this." She took a few steps toward the door but then she stopped and answered the phone.

"Dr. Rodgers! Are you working today?"

The mention of his wife's name finally broke the spell between Ross and Carolyn. His eyes tracked to Alex as she stood with her back to the room and spoke on the phone.

"Okay, that's great. We'll be right there."

She hung up and turned around.

"Captain, Rodgers has the report ready for us from Felcia Dudek's autopsy. We should really head on over to the morgue and check that out."

Ross was quiet a moment longer. I knew he didn't want to let us go, not after we had been witness to the dressing-down he'd gotten from Carolyn. _But he had it coming_.

"Very well then," he said at last. "But Detectives, let's get one thing straight. Anything to do with this case is my business. If you pull another stunt like you did this afternoon, I'll have both of you riding a desk for a week."

"Yes sir," Alex replied. I just nodded.

"And you two," he said, looking pointedly at Mike and Carolyn. "If you interfere in police business again, there will be repercussions."

Carolyn opened her mouth, but Logan effectively shushed her with a subtle hand on her arm.

"Captain, with all due respect," he said. "This was _not_ police business. Our only mistake today was to call Goren and Eames to ask for their help. If the victim didn't want to report it to the police, she is not obligated to do so."

"It bleeds in to my case," Ross argued. "She's the mother of one of our victims."

"And again, if we weren't friends, then you guys would've never even known about this."

Ross sighed heavily. Logan was right, and he knew it.

"Fine. But can we have a little professional courtesy here? Keep me in the loop. We can work together on this. It'll help us all."

"Sure thing, Captain," Logan said. He and Carolyn turned to leave. I was quick to follow.

"Eames, you and your partner get on down to the morgue. I want an update later this afternoon."

We walked back to the elevator without speaking a word. Once we got on, Alex started chuckling and then we all followed suit.

"I think I need to hire you to come with me every time he calls me in there," I told Carolyn. She grinned at me.

"I almost asked if I needed to remind him of your name. But I thought maybe that would be pushing it a little too far."

"Pushing it?" Logan laughed. "You just chastised a police captain in his own office."

"Well, we were in the right. He was just mad that he had to find out about this from a third party. And he wanted to take it out on his favorite whipping boy."

"I could just kiss you right now," I told her.

"Go ahead. You two need to catch up," Logan said with a grin, slinging his arm over Alex's shoulders.

So I did. I leaned down and gave her a smack right on the lips. I don't think she expected me to actually do it, and it was probably the first and only time I would ever see her blush.

"Now we're even," Alex said, shoving me out of the elevator. "Come on, Casanova. Let's go see what Rodgers found on Felcia."

"Oh yeah. That was convenient timing, wasn't it?" I asked as we headed for the SUV.

"It's possible that I may have texted her and suggested that now was a great time if she had any news at all for us."

"I wonder if she knew we were in with Ross."

"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Either way, she helped us get out of there."

"Hey, we're going to touch base with Daiya's mom and then…"

Carolyn was interrupted by her cell phone.

"Yeah," she answered. We all waited while she listened.

"What? Right now? Don't let them go! We're on the way."

She slammed her phone closed and looked at us with a gleam in her eye.

"That was Sledge."

"Sledge? The tattoo guy?" I asked.

"Yeah. He said three girls just walked into his shop. And guess what kind of tattoo they're looking for?"

"Let's go," Logan said.

"Hey, wait. This is part of our case, right?" Alex asked, ever the voice of reason.

"You want to call Ross?" Carolyn asked. Alex hesitated. I knew she didn't want to, but I also knew we had to.

"We'll call on the way. Get in our car. We'll say that when the call came in, you just happened to be with us," she said finally.

"He's not going to buy that," Logan said wryly as he got in the back. "But ask me if I care."

TBC...


	11. Chapter 11

**Alex POV**

* * *

The tattoo parlor was a bust. The girls were apparently a little creeped out by Sledge and didn't hang around. I don't know why he didn't just go ahead and start tattooing them, but for some reason he decided to talk to try to keep them there. And he was just a little too scary to pull that off.

So now we had three new potential victims. It was our theory that the tattoo was some kind of rebellious act against the virtual hostage-holders. The girls were getting together in groups and deciding to make a break for it. Unfortunately, then they were being killed in groups, too. Our fourth girl was still out there somewhere, and I could only hope that she was still alive.

We dropped Mike and Carolyn back at their car and then headed for the morgue. Liz was still waiting for us to go over the autopsy report on Felcia.

Bobby and I walked down the hall and as we approached the autopsy suite, we could hear Liz's voice.

"_It sounds like they were right."_ She didn't sound very happy. I quirked an eyebrow at Bobby and he shrugged back at me.

I took a quick peek inside and saw that she was on the phone with her back to the door. She had one hand on her hip and her head was cocked to one side. It was a stance of exhaustion or irritation, and by the tone of her voice, I was going to go with the latter.

"_No, I'm not…"_

"_I'm not…"_

"_I am __**not**__ taking their side..."_

I felt bad for listening and so I started to go into the room, but the next thing she said stopped me in my tracks.

"_Danny, what exactly is it about him that you dislike so much?"_

Oh, we did not need to be listening to this. But at the same time I found myself desperately wishing she had him on speaker.

"We need to go," I whispered to Bobby. "I don't want to get caught eavesdropping to this."

"She's standing up for me," he said in surprise. "She's standing up to her husband. About me."

I started tugging on his arm, trying to go back down the hallway. We needed to approach again, this time walking louder and just go straight on in the room.

"_Well, you get what you give, Danny…"_

"_I know…"_

"_I know…"_

"_Okay, I'll see you tonight."_

We did a u-turn halfway down the hall and then came back. I made a point to talk louder than normal.

"When we leave here, we need to pull the records on Chris Hanson," I reminded Bobby needlessly.

"And run a more thorough check on Sherman Moser," he added. And it was true. We'd spent so much time running around the city in the past twenty-four hours that we hadn't been chasing the paper trail.

"Detectives," Rodgers greeted us cheerily when we entered. I guess her irritation was only for her husband.

"Sorry to keep you waiting so long, Liz."

"Oh, it's no problem. I think you'll be interested in what I found."

"Something different this time?"

"Well, at first glance, things were pretty much the same as with the first two girls."

"At first glance?"

"Same cause of death, same tattoo. The tox report is where things started to go astray."

"No drugs or harder drugs?" Bobby asked.

"She had ketamine in her system, but this girl's usage was a little more recent. Not by much though. I'd say three weeks ago. But she didn't have any benzos or LSD in her system and her blood alcohol level was zero."

"So no drug use at all since the ketamine?"

"No, and I'll tell you why. She was twelve weeks pregnant."

"Oh my God," I muttered. This just kept getting better. I looked at Bobby.

"Hanson?" he asked.

"It's possible," I replied. "Of course, it could be a dozen other men, too."

"Sherman?"

"Maybe."

"You think Hanson will give us a DNA sample?"

"If he thinks it means we won't tell his wife, he'll give us whatever we want."

"Assuming he's not trying to hide a Polish accent and lure us into a trap with Sherman," Bobby quipped.

Rodgers watched our volley like it was a tennis match. Then she just shook her head.

"Detectives, what kind of mess have you gotten yourselves into this time?" she asked rhetorically. I don't think she really wanted to know.

"If we bring you a DNA sample, you can run it against the fetus to check for paternity?"

"Of course."

"Thanks," I told her. "We'll be back."

"Be careful, Detectives. Are Mike and Carolyn working this with you?"

We both hesitated.

"Carolyn was working just the one missing persons case…" I started.

"I'm not asking for Danny," she interrupted. "I was just asking to make sure you guys were okay."

Bobby and I looked at each other again, but we still weren't sure what to say.

"I know we don't usually do personal. But ever since that whole thing with Marcus, well…I feel like maybe we're a little more than just colleagues. I'm interested in what happens to you two even after you leave my morgue."

"I'm sorry, Liz," I said with a sigh. Now I felt bad. She was genuinely trying to reach out to us.

"We just don't want you to get caught in the middle of anything," Bobby told her.

"I won't ask the question if I can't deal with the answer. If I'm asking, it's for me and not because I'm on a secret mission for my husband. Anything you tell me stays in this room. And I mean that."

I looked at Bobby. I was going to let it be his decision.

"They're helping us, yes," he admitted. "It's not something we would have normally done, but since Carolyn was already in on the case, it seemed like a good fit. Not to mention she speaks the language."

"I understand. I'm glad you have them to watch your backs. I wish those two still worked for the department. They're damn good cops."

* * *

We went back to 1PP and got started on the computer. We had miles of legwork to take care of. I noticed that Ross was still in his office, but the door was closed and he didn't look up when we came in.

I hated the idea that we were a potential source of unrest in his marriage. As much as I disliked the man, I didn't want to see him get divorced again. If Liz was happy with him, then I didn't want anything to ruin it.

I finally quit worrying about Ross and got to work. After an hour of working in silence, Bobby sat back in his chair.

"This perfume that I was talking about is only sold in one store in New York. And it's expensive, so I don't see any of them buying it for themselves. I want to go over there and check it out to confirm that was the kind of perfume the girls were wearing. If that's the only place to buy it here, maybe we can track down the origin of sales."

"Okay," I agreed as I read over the report on my computer screen.

"Of course, it could've been purchased online," he continued. "That might make it a little harder to track, but still...if we can confirm the name of the perfume we smelled, it'll make it a whole lot easier," he said. I nodded and pulled out a different report and scanned it quickly.

"Eames," Bobby said to get my attention.

"Just a second." I looked at one more report and then I met Bobby's gaze.

"Okay. I pulled the background on Chris Hanson. He's squeaky clean, if you ignore the fact that he was cheating on his wife with a teenage girl."

"Where's he from?"

"Mobile, Alabama. He probably worked on his speech pattern to lose the southern accent."

"What about Sherman Moser?" he asked.

"Born and raised in Brooklyn. He went to a junior college for two years before transferring to Hudson University. He got his law degree at Brooklyn Law, and he's been with Immigration Corporation since he passed the bar two years later."

"Two _years_ later?"

"Apparently he had a little trouble with the exam. Looks like the fifth time was a charm. But get this. I also have his financials here."

"And?"

"And he's got money all over the place. Three different banks in New York. Two in Switzerland. He's got stocks and bonds. He actually owns Slattery's…"

"All of that from working as an immigration attorney?"

"I don't think so," I said, shaking my head. "Some lawyers make big bucks, but Sherman's not one of them. And there's more." But before I could say it, something else clicked.

"Hey, what was that girl's name that was at Port Authority last night? Monique?"

"Monique Bastock," Bobby said after consulting his binder. "She was a student at New York University."

"Right. How do you feel about coincidences?"

"They don't exist. Not in our line of work."

"Okay, so guess who is married and has a kid that goes to NYU?"

"Sherman's married?"

"Yep. With a twenty-year-old daughter. I wonder if Ashley Moser knew Monique?"

Since it was Sunday and the perfume store was closed, we tabled that aspect until Monday morning. There was nothing keeping us from talking to Ashley Moser though. I pulled up her background information while Bobby went to get us some coffee.

"You're not going to believe this," I told him as he offered me a steaming cup. "And thank you," I added, reaching for the coffee. Our fingers touched briefly as the cup exchanged hands. I held his gaze for a moment longer than necessary and then bit back a smile.

"You're welcome. What did you find?"

"Ashley Moser has a record."

Bobby sat down at his desk and waited for me to continue. He propped his elbows on his desk and I watched as his long, talented fingers came to rest under his chin.

"Are you going to tell me?"' he asked, catching on to the fact that I was watching him closely. He began stroking the stubble on his face.

"What, no guesses?" I teased. I know. It was probably inappropriate to make light of a murder case, but it had been a long day and it was only going to get longer. Tension had to be relieved somehow.

"Eames," Bobby warned in a low voice. His tone made a shot of arousal go straight through me. Hmm…looks like someone else needed some tension relieved. In a manner other than joking.

"Goren," I replied, matching his tone.

"Don't make me come over there and find out for myself," he said. He was using his confident command voice. I was in trouble. In a good way.

"Or what?" I asked, unable to resist.

I would never admit it out loud, but I loved it when Bobby bossed me around. As part of our seduction, I mean. He had picked up on that fairly quickly and he slipped into that role easily. I think it helped him with his self-confidence issues, and it allowed me to step away from the woman-in-a-man's-world attitude that I had to maintain on a daily basis.

So I waited to hear what his punishment for me might be, and my insides were already tingling.

But when he opened his mouth to reply, Ross came out of his office.

"Detectives, my office," he called out. Damn, just when I was starting to get worked up. I was one minute away from hauling him down to our private alcove in the parking garage.

Ross was standing in his doorway waiting for us, so I stood up and headed for his office. I noticed Bobby grabbed his binder off his desk before following me and I tried not to smirk. I guess he had been about ready to head for the parking garage, too.

"Solicitation," I whispered to Bobby as we sat down. I didn't want him to be blindsided by that little tidbit. Especially since I was the one that started the unpartner-like teasing which had caused the delay in me passing on the information.

"What?"

"Ashley."

Bobby got a thoughtful look on his face, so I turned to Ross to deal with him while Bobby mulled that over.

"Where are we on this case?" Ross asked after he closed the door. His tone was lighter than it had been earlier and he didn't pull the behind-the-desk power move. _Maybe talking to Liz had helped_.

"We're going back to Newark to see if Hanson will give us a DNA sample. And we found out that Sherman Moser has a lot more money than he should. He also has a daughter, Ashley, at NYU.

"Isn't that where the victim from Port Authority went to school?"

"Yes sir. And I just found out that Ashley has a jacket. She was busted a year ago for solicitation."

"Which may mean that she's helping her father," Bobby spoke up. "It's possible that she's recruiting girls for him."

"So we've got NYU students and poor Polish girls? How does that fit?"

"It's just a theory. But maybe NYU was where it started. Maybe recruitment has been down lately and so Sherman is using his connections in Immigration to bring in more girls. I'm betting the college girls did it willingly to earn some extra cash, but now he's threatening the newer girls."

"How does last night's victim factor in? You said she didn't fit the high-class escort profile."

"We're not sure how she's involved. Maybe she isn't," I admitted, although I had a strong hunch that she was.

"She might have found out about the operation, maybe threatened to tell someone," Bobby suggested.

"So you're going to go talk to Ashley?"

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," I said. "We're going to be meeting with Sherman tomorrow night. If she's heavily involved, she may be there. Or we may run into Sherman when we're talking to her. We don't want to blow our cover."

"So let me guess," Ross said, signs of his usual dour demeanor coming through. "You want to send Logan and Barek."

"Um…"

"Does she relate to Barek's case?" he asked on a sigh. "Can you tie Ashley Moser into the extortion?"

"I saw her father take the money from the pick-up guy," I told him. That didn't really tie Ashley in, but it might give Barek reason to talk to her.

"Okay. Fine. Send them, but I want to know what they find out. They can't play it both ways. If they're going to stick their noses into this case, then they have to share their findings."

"Of course, sir. Thank you," I said.

We stood up to leave, and I was again struck with curiosity about the conversation Liz had had with Ross. Or maybe it was Carolyn's tirade that had settled him down some. Either way, I was going to take it while we could get it.

"Oh, and Detective," Ross said to me when I was almost out the door.

"Yes sir?"

"Personnel sent over a request. They said they need a physical address for you rather than just a P.O. Box. They gave you some leeway since your apartment burned down, but they really need to have current information. Have you found something permanent, or are you still staying at your sister's?"

"I'm…um…"

Wow, he had completely caught me off guard. And if I didn't know better, I'd think he did that on purpose. Bobby subtly poked me in the back to get me to respond.

"I'm still working on finding something permanent. Can you give me a couple more weeks?" I asked at last.

"Sure. Two weeks."

TBC...


	12. Chapter 12

Logan POV

* * *

Daiya's mother was going back to Poland. She had come to America to make a better life for her daughter, and now that Daiya was dead, she said there was nothing left for her here.

When Carolyn told me, it felt like a kick in the teeth. And I could tell she was upset as well, but it was apparently a done deal. Ms. Pawlak had already called her brother in Lublin to make the arrangements.

We left the Pawlak apartment feeling somewhat defeated. We had no new information.

"Let's call Goren and see what Rodgers had for them," I suggested as I drove toward Manhattan. I wasn't ready to let this case go.

Carolyn pulled out her phone but before she could dial, a call came in.

"It's Alex," she told me, putting it on speaker.

"Hey, Eames. You got both of us. What's up?"

"You guys up for doing a little more poking around?" she asked.

"Hey, poke is my middle name," I said. Carolyn gave me a funny look and Eames started chuckling.

"I didn't mean it like _that_," I said. Man, these girls had dirty minds.

"What do you need us to do?" Carolyn asked.

"Sherman Moser has a daughter at NYU."

"Isn't that where…"

"Yep. So can you talk to her and see what you get? Her name is Ashley Moser. She's got a record for solicitation from about a year ago."

"Solicitation?"

"Yeah. I checked the details. She offered money to a female Vice officer for sex."

"So she's…"

"I don't know. Either that, or she was just feeling her out to see if she was into that kind of thing. Maybe as part of her dad's operation."

"What about Ross?" Carolyn asked.

"I think you opened his eyes a little. He's okay with you two going to talk to her as long as you share what you find."

"Okay, we're on it," I agreed. "What did Rodgers say about Felcia?"

"She was pregnant. Twelve weeks. And no recent drug use, so I'm guessing she knew."

"Shit," I said, shaking my head. Maybe I wasn't such a closet softie anymore. I was having a harder time acting like these things didn't bother me.

"Me and Bobby are heading out to Newark to press Hanson for a DNA sample. He's clean, by the way. He's from Alabama and nothing on his record would imply he's involved in any of this other than as a client. If you guys get a good read on Ashley and you think she's involved with the Bastock murder, let me know. We'll get that case pulled from the 1-8."

"Okay. We'll call you when we finish. Give me the address for Ashley."

Eames gave us the information, but before we hung up, she had another question.

"Hey, Logan. What did you do with your old apartment?"

"I'm subletting," I told her.

"Yeah, he didn't want to let it go just in case we didn't work out," Carolyn added. I rolled my eyes at her.

"It was smart to wait," I replied. "I don't have a very good track record for long-term relationships."

"Sell it, Mike. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you."

"Um, hey guys," Eames interrupted. "I'm still here."

"Yeah, sorry."

"When is the lease up?"

"At the end of the month. Why?"

"I want to rent it from you. Or buy it from you, whatever."

"You and the big guy splitting up for real this time?" I asked. And I only asked because I knew they weren't. I would never joke about that otherwise.

"Ross needs an actual address for me, and since my place burned down, I don't have one."

"He called you out on that?"

"Yeah. He said personnel's been on his case."

"That's bullshit. Personnel doesn't care. He's fishing."

"What?"

"I'm not kidding. I used a P.O. Box for the whole first year that I was at Major Case."

"Shit," she muttered. "Okay. Good to know. Thanks."

"But Eames, you can use that address. It's fine with me. I'll rent it to you cheap."

"We'll talk more about this when we meet up later, okay?"

We hung up with her and I turned the car toward the West Village where Ashley Moser lived.

"So Felcia was pregnant," Carolyn said, mostly to herself. She liked to work through details that way, so I just kept quiet. "I wonder if it was Sherman. Maybe that's what started this whole thing. She found out she was pregnant and wanted out. Maybe a couple other girls decided to go with her. Sherman couldn't let her go because if she had the baby, then there would be living proof of his connection to her."

"He told Alex he wanted to test drive her. He probably insists on having sex with the other girls, too. That's his perk for organizing everything," she continued. She was on a roll.

"We need to get some DNA from Sherman. We should've taken some from his office yesterday. Alex can get something tomorrow night."

She was finally quiet for a minute. And then another minute.

"You don't have anything to add?" she asked.

"Oh, you want me to add something? I thought you were doing this by yourself," I teased. "Remember that time I suggested you put a cell phone to your ear so people wouldn't think you were talking to yourself? It still applies."

She laughed, which was what I was going for.

"I was hoping you might interrupt me with some astute observation," she told me, still smiling.

"You want astute? How about this. The killer thought he was being smart. He dumped the bodies in different precincts. Daiya was in the 2-2. Anya was in the 8-8. Felcia was all the way down in the 1st, and Monique was in the 1-8. What he didn't count on was the body at the zoo bringing in Major Case. He didn't account for Goren and Eames."

"So what are you saying? The killer knew enough about police procedure to know that different precincts investigating the murders might delay the connection?"

"But not enough to know that a body found in a tourist attraction would bring in the big guns."

"What does that tell us?"

"That we need to keep the connection out of the media. If Sherman and his boys realize that we're onto them, they'll close up shop and wait for the heat to die down. Right now, they're probably running business as usual thinking that the cops don't suspect a thing."

"So if we go in to talk to Ashley…"

"We can't be investigators. Not even private consultants."

"Don't ever tell me you're not smart, Mike," she said. "I can't wait to get you working with me full-time."

"One more week."

* * *

We still had the communications devices from our operation earlier in the day, so when we got to the West Village, I got myself wired up.

"I'm not sure I like this," Carolyn said. I gave her a quick grin.

"I'm sure I like this even less. Don't worry, babe. It'll work."

"That's what I'm afraid of," she muttered. I grabbed her and gave her a hard kiss and then I left her in the car and went into Ashley's building. I didn't blame Carolyn for being wary. I know I wouldn't like it if the situation were reversed.

I made my way up to Ashley's tenth floor apartment and I knocked on her door. I heard her approach, and I knew she was looking through the peephole, so I made a point of taking off my wedding band and putting it in my pocket.

"Hey, sweetheart," I said when a young woman opened the door. She was a looker in a bold, brassy kind of way. I knew it was Ashley because she looked exactly like her father. "Is Stephanie home?"

"There's no Stephanie here."

"Are you sure?" I took a step back and looked at the number on the door. "I…um…I was sure the guy told me this apartment number."

"I'm sure," she told me. She smiled at me and I knew I was in.

"Damn. I can't believe this. I'm…oh man. I'm sorry." I ran my hands through my hair nervously.

"What guy gave you this number?"

"Oh…never mind. It's okay. I guess it wasn't meant to be. I probably shouldn't have tried it anyway."

I started to slowly back away, but she put a hand on my arm.

"Were you looking for…something?" she asked ambivalently.

"I…um…I just…" I stuttered, and then I sighed heavily. "See, my wife left me a few weeks ago, and I guess I've been a little lonely."

"Oh, you poor thing. Come on inside. You can call your friend and see if you can straighten this thing out."

"That's okay. I'm sorry I bothered you." I looked down at the floor and turned again.

"We can't have you walking around town lonely, now can we? Come in," she insisted, pulling me through the doorway. I followed her into the kitchen and sat down on a stool at the island counter. I did a quick scan of the room. It looked like money. Everything was top of the line and immaculate.

"I met a guy at Trapp's a couple of weeks ago," I told her. "He told me about this girl at NYU who was…helpful when it came to lonely guys. I wasn't going to go through with it, but when my wife didn't come back…I just thought what the hell. You know?"

"At Trapp's? Oh, honey, you're hanging out in the wrong bars. Go to Slattery's. They'll fix you right up. You won't be lonely anymore, I promise."

"Slattery's huh?" I asked. "Thanks. Are the girls there as pretty as you?" I asked shyly, and then I let out a nervous laugh. She laughed, too.

"Oh yeah. And there's quite a variety, so whatever floats your boat. Although," she said as she got up from her stool and approached me from behind. "You're pretty cute. I might be able to…cure your loneliness for tonight. I mean, you came to the Village for some action, right? It would be a shame to send you away with your motor still running."

Ashley stood flush up against my back and ran her fingers down my chest, using her fingernails to intensify the sensation. I needed to get the hell out of there. It was bad enough dealing with this vixen myself, but knowing that Carolyn was listening to every word made it even worse. I had grossly underestimated how easy it would be to get information from her. I stood up quickly and took a step away.

"I…um…I better not. Thank you. Really, but…I think maybe I'm not as ready as I thought I was," I said. I didn't need to fake the ineloquence. This girl was going to pounce on me any second, and I was starting to panic. She stepped up close to me and reached around to run her hand over my ass.

"Oh, I think you're ready," she purred. Damn, this girl was twisted. She'd known me for three minutes and she was ready to throw me on the floor. Absolutely, without a doubt, she was completely involved in Daddy's business.

"I'm sorry. Really…I have to go," I insisted, backing up all the way to the door. I got the door open and was able to escape with only minimal additional groping.

"Slattery's!" she called out the door to me as I hustled down the hall.

"I will! I promise!"

I was breathing hard when I got back to the car. I didn't want to wait for the elevator for fear that Ashley would come after me again, so I had run down ten flights of stairs.

"That worked well," Carolyn said when I got in the car. "You still have your virtue intact?"

"Barely," I muttered. "That girl was all over me. That is one sick family. The dad paws all over you and Eames, the daughter was ready to jump in the sack with me…damn. I need a shower."

"A cold one?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, just one with lots of soap."

* * *

We met up with Goren and Eames at our favorite hang-out, McNally's.

Hanson had willingly handed over a piece of his hair for testing, but he also insisted that he couldn't be the father. He swore he didn't meet Felcia until late September, and so if Rodgers was sure about her being twelve weeks along, then she was already a week or so pregnant by then. But it was close enough to run the test to rule him out.

Prompted by a text Carolyn sent when we left Ashley's, Goren had called the 1-8 to let them know that Major Case would be taking over the Bastock murder. They didn't seem to mind. Goren and Eames were going to pick up the casefile information in the morning.

I filled them in on the details of my adventure at Ashley's apartment.

"I have never been so uncomfortable with a woman in my entire life," I admitted. I picked up my beer and took a long drink. I was _still_ feeling uncomfortable.

"She really grabbed your ass?" Eames asked me, clearly unable to resist giving me a hard time. I couldn't let her get away with it.

"Well, yeah, but so did you earlier today," I replied, waggling my eyebrows at her.

"I did not!" Her indignation had me laughing and I couldn't keep up the lie.

"Okay, so you didn't," I agreed. "But if given the choice between the two of you…"

"Shut up, Mike," Eames and Carolyn said at the same time.

"She was really ready to sleep with you that quickly?" Goren asked.

"Yeah, it was crazy. She's not new to the business. In fact, I'm wondering if she started it and brought Daddy in rather than the other way around."

"And she told you that Slattery's had all types available?"

"Uh huh," Carolyn said. "We got it on tape."

"That tape won't be admissible but whatever we get tomorrow night will be. I'll make sure I put in some special requests when we meet with Sherman."

"If Ashley is there, you better watch your junk, man. I'm serious. That woman is dangerous."

"I think we need to go in as a couple," Eames told Goren.

"You already said I was a client."

"I know, but we can still make it work."

I didn't blame Eames one bit for wanting to make sure that Goren was accounted for. But the flip side of that was that now they were going to go in as a couple. And of course, Ross would be listening.

TBC...


	13. Chapter 13

**Bobby POV**

* * *

It was late when we left McNally's and headed for home, but I was bursting with adrenaline. I usually felt like this when I knew a case was coming to a head, and this time was no different. I had a feeling that by the end of the night tomorrow, we would at the very least know all of the players in this game.

I was a little concerned about our undercover assignment. Not because I didn't think I could handle Ashley, although I had to admit that she did have me somewhat apprehensive. Mike was a pro at dealing with women, and if she had freaked him out then I was probably going to be way out of my league.

But no, my main concern was controlling my jealousy. I knew that Alex had suggested we work as a couple because of Mike's tales about Ashley, but I was grateful for it, too because it would also help me out tremendously. Maybe Sherman wouldn't hit on her so hard if he knew we were together. And then maybe I could get through the night without killing him.

Because I swear, if he puts his hand anywhere near her thigh, he's going to draw back a nub. And I'm not worried about the legal ramifications. I'm just worried about Ross. Because Ross is going to be listening to every word and watching as much as he can, and he's going to be over-analyzing every little detail.

And Ross is already suspicious of us just because of that damn P.O. Box. Why couldn't he just mind his own business? But I knew the answer to that. He thought he was smarter than everyone else, and he couldn't stomach the thought that maybe we were putting one over on him. Asshole.

The couple thing was going to work out fine as far as our cover story was concerned. Alex had told him she was from Boston and she was bringing in a wealthy Italian client. When we go in tomorrow night, she'll admit to him that her client is actually her fiancé, me. And I have four financiers flying in from Switzerland on Wednesday and hope to show them a good time so that then I can close on an investment deal. That part was a piece of cake.

The hard part was going to be getting him to reveal his operation. That meant I was going to have to feign interest in starting a similar operation in Boston. That meant I had to _not_ be completely disgusted by the whole thing. It was a good thing I'm a good actor.

"Bobby, are you coming to bed?" Alex called to me. She was already under the covers, but I was still out in the living room. Pacing.

"Yeah, in a minute."

I checked the locks on the front door and then I went through the apartment and turned off the lights. I still wasn't tired, but I hoped to work off some of my excess energy with Alex.

"You're worried about tomorrow night, aren't you?" she asked me when I came into the bedroom.

I looked at her lying in my bed and was overwhelmed with emotion. Sometimes it was so hard for me to believe that she was here with me. I had been alone for so long that I had finally come to the conclusion that I would always be alone. And then Alex came over that day after work and changed everything.

"You remember that night after work? After the Declan interview?"

"That was the first time that we hugged," she replied with a smile. "I was so scared."

"You were scared?" I asked with a laugh. "I was petrified."

I stripped out of my clothes and climbed into bed. Alex immediately slipped over next to me, pressing her warm body up against mine. I was instantly hard.

"You didn't act scared," she said, speaking in a quiet voice. She ran her toe up and down my calf while her fingers tangled in the hair on my chest. "You just acted…sad. And lonely. I knew you didn't want to be alone anymore."

"I'm so grateful that you took that first step. Hell, the second step even."

"You stopped me from leaving," I reminded him. "I was so frustrated with you, that you wouldn't talk to me…I thought maybe you didn't feel the things for me that I felt for you."

"Of course I did," I told her, running my hands over her back. "But I was so glad you took the hard steps. I don't know if I would've ever had the nerve."

"You would have. We would still be right here," she said with confidence. Her hand moved lower and my stomach muscles tightened against the ticklish sensation.

"Don't be worried about Ross," she continued. I started to make a joke about her mentioning Ross while we were in bed together, but then she slid over me, straddling my hips. Words escaped me and I held my breath as she sank down onto me.

"I don't care about that," she whispered. "If we get caught, fine. If he wants to rat us out to the brass, that's fine too. I'm going to quit being scared about that."

"Really?"

"Really," she said, slowing her movements. She sat back, with her hands on my chest and looked at me with those beautiful bronze-colored eyes. "If he wants to separate us, then I'll quit."

"You'll quit? _We'll_ quit."

"We'll quit," she amended with a big grin. "Carolyn's busy all the time, and she turns down more cases than she accepts. We could always join forces."

"Join forces," I mused as I settled my hands on her hips, increasing her movements. "It makes us sound like superheroes."

"Hmm…" she murmured. "I like that. As long as I get to be Wonder Woman."

"Will you wear the costume?" I teased.

"Do you want me to?" she asked. She leaned over, bringing her lips close to mine.

"You do in my dreams," I told her. She kissed me hard, bringing the intensity to new levels. I put my hands on her back and turned us over so that I could take over for awhile.

"You still dream about me? Even now that you have me?"

"Every night."

However, my dreams were cut short that night when Alex's phone rang at two-fifteen. After our first night together, we had changed ring tones so that our phones sounded completely different, but still…when it woke me up out of a sound sleep, my first thought was _that_ a phone was ringing rather than _whose_ phone was ringing.

I reached for it blindly and flipped it open before Alex dove over me and pulled it from my hand.

"Eames," she answered breathlessly. I reached for the lamp and turned it on. There would be no going back to sleep now. A two a.m. call meant a body had been found.

"Yes Captain," she said after listening for a minute. She hung up and looked at me with a tired smile.

"Well, at least he didn't ask if I was going to call _my partner_ this time," she said sarcastically. "But they've got a body."

"Tattoo?" I asked on a sigh.

"Yeah," she replied. "The officers on scene checked it out."

"Where?" I asked as I climbed out of bed. Alex got up, too, and quickly went in to turn on the shower.

"Long Island City. Queensbridge Park," she called out.

"I.d.?"

"I didn't ask. When Ross said she had the tattoo, I figured it was a safe bet that it's girl number four. A name wouldn't make any difference at this point."

We seamlessly went through the routine of getting ready in a hurry. It was almost like we were an old married couple. She showered, I made coffee. I showered, she dressed. I dressed, she fixed coffee round number two. We were out the door twenty-five minutes after getting the call.

"Should we call Logan and Barek?" I asked her as she started up the car.

"It can't hurt."

"Except Logan has to go back to work today. I hate to call him at this time night."

"He'll be mad if we don't," she said. And she was probably right. Logan was relentless when it came to investigations. He would go a week without sleep if he had to. I wouldn't be surprised if he talked Deakins into giving him the day off, even though he was down to his last week.

I pulled out my phone while Alex drove us quickly towards the Queensboro Bridge.

"What?" Logan answered. I smiled a little at his grouchiness, but then got down to business.

"We've got a body," I told him. "Queensbridge Park."

"Tattoo?" he asked. Funny, that had been my first question, too.

"Yeah."

"We'll be there."

There wasn't much to Queensbridge Park. A few tennis courts, some ratty baseball fields, and a couple of bike trails. In the corner, where one side bordered the bridge and another side bordered the river, there was a junkyard-like area with a few abandoned cars, car parts, and dumpsters.

It was in this corner that the body had been placed. And placed is too kind of a word. It looked like she had been tossed down from the bridge.

"Oh my God," Alex said as she crouched down next to me. The girl was on her stomach, but I used a gloved hand to gently turn her onto her side. Her face was unrecognizable.

"Were they mad that it took them three days to find her," I murmured. "Or did it just take us that long to find the body?"

"I just spoke with the officer that found her. He actually saw something getting thrown off the bridge. He was on foot, so he couldn't go after the car, but he came down here to see what it was."

"And he found her. So they vented their rage on this poor girl because she was able to avoid detection all weekend," I mused.

"Or they worked her over for information," Alex suggested. "Maybe she kept some money, too, like Daiya."

"Maybe," I agreed. "It's hard to tell how much of this came from the beating, and how much was from the fall."

I sniffed at the body. The perfume was barely detectable. Almost as though it had been transferred rather than applied. I looked up and saw Logan and Barek approaching.

"Hey, did you smell Ashley yesterday?" I knew that question sounded ridiculous and I had no doubt that Logan was fighting a base instinct to crack a joke, but he held back.

"I guess so, yeah. Smells aren't usually my thing, but she was certainly close enough."

"I smelled her on you," Carolyn said thoughtfully. "I didn't think about it yesterday, but it was that same scent as the others." She walked closer to the body and bent down to sniff.

"It's the same," she confirmed. "Ashley was wearing that perfume yesterday."

"Maybe she supplies it for the girls?" Logan suggested. "Maybe she's in charge of getting them presentable for work."

"Maybe."

"No i.d.?" Carolyn asked me. I looked at Alex, since she had talked with the officer.

"No purse. He checked up on the bridge, too, just to make sure. But he didn't search her pockets."

The girl was wearing black slacks. I carefully eased my hand into her pockets, but came up empty.

"Did the officer see the make of the car?" I asked Alex.

"A dark late-model sedan. That was the best he could do. He said he was too far away to even tell if the plates were New York."

"I'm going to head up onto the bridge and see what I can find," Logan said. He took off walking and Alex went with him. Carolyn came over next to me.

"I thought we were going to find this girl," she said sadly. "I thought we could save her."

"I know. Me, too."

"I met Sherman. He's a despicable human being, but he's not a killer. He doesn't have the balls for it. But Ashley…I don't know, Bobby. I think maybe Mike was right when he suggested that it was Ashley who started this business and then brought her dad in."

"You think a twenty-year old is running this whole enterprise, complete with forced sexual participation and fatal consequences?"

"You don't think a woman is capable of that?"

"I didn't say that."

"She's a sociopath."

"You got that from listening to her conversation with Mike?" It wasn't that I didn't believe her. Carolyn knew her stuff and if she thought the girl was a sociopath then I'd bet my paycheck on it. But I wanted to hear her reasons.

"She had a lot of the markers. Charming, a need for stimulation, sexually promiscuous, manipulative…and her ability to charm and manipulate is probably why she's so successful. She's got men falling at her feet, willing to do her bidding."

"Hey guys!" Logan called to us. I looked up and saw him and Alex trotting towards us. I stood up, my mind still considering Carolyn's analysis. If she was right, then our focus tonight needed to be on Ashley rather than Sherman.

"Did you find something?" Carolyn asked. Mike grinned and nodded his head.

"Oh yeah. A bloody fingerprint on the guardrail."

"Our victim's?"

"I don't think so," Alex said. "It was too big for my fingers, and I'd say our girl here is about my size. I already sent CSU over there to pull it."

"So not Ashley," I said. I had thought that maybe with the transferred perfume that Ashley was our killer.

"No, but there's more," Alex said. "There's a heel print in the mud."

I looked down at the victim. She was wearing dressy boots with a boxed heel. I looked back up at Alex, who had followed my gaze.

"A stiletto heel print," she clarified. "I'd say we had two perps at this party."

TBC...


	14. Chapter 14

Alex POV

* * *

The day was a blur of activity. I knew my two a.m. wake-up call would catch up to me at some point, but it hadn't yet.

By five o'clock, we had made three very interesting discoveries, two of which were not really a surprise, but the third one definitely was.

First, we tracked down the perfume. It was exclusive to a boutique on Christopher Avenue. A quick trip to the store got us the information. The scent was purchased regularly by Ashley Moser. She paid with cash, but she had a standing order. We were gathering a nice bit of evidence on her.

Secondly, Rodgers was able to definitively rule out Hanson as the father of Felcia's baby. It didn't really change the course of our investigation, but rather kept us from doubting his innocence. I would get a sample from Sherman later tonight.

And then there was that third thing.

See, we stopped by the 1-8 to pick up the casefile on Monique Bastock. The detectives there hadn't done much work on it. Yesterday was a Sunday, we were told. I guess there was a reason they weren't working for Major Case.

So after looking through their meager information, we learned that Monique had no family and was, as we already knew, a student at NYU. There had not been an autopsy performed yet, and there had been no notification to make. I quickly made arrangements for the body to be sent to Rodgers' morgue and asked her to get to it as soon as she finished with our Jane Doe from early this morning.

As I was driving back to 1PP, Bobby suddenly spoke up.

"Eames, go back to Long Island City."

I didn't ask questions, and I cut off three cars so that I could turn around and get onto the FDR. I recognized that tone of voice. He was on to something. I waited while he continued looking through the casefile.

"Monique lived near Queensbridge Park."

"You think they knew each other?"

"I don't know, but Monique went to school with Ashley and lived near where our Jane Doe was found. It's worth a look."

And it was. It really made me mad that we hadn't been able to make the connection before now, because then we just might have been able to save Adrianna Blazejewicz, our victim from under the bridge.

It turned out that she and Monique were lovers.

We scoured the apartment, the one listed as Monique's address, and found photos, love letters, cards...we were able to piece together that Adrianna had been in the States for about a year. She had her own place in Queens, but she started taking night classes at NYU in September. That must have been where she met Monique.

It seemed that Adrianna had only moved into the place a few weeks ago. Probably about the same time that she had gotten the tattoo and attempted to leave the sex business.

"So Monique was killed because they assumed she knew about it," I said. "Maybe she encouraged Adrianna to get out?"

"Or because she wouldn't tell them where Adrianna was. She would've been in hiding by that point."

"Damn, did the homicide cops at the 1-8 not look through this apartment?" I asked in frustration.

"They would have had no way of knowing. Sure, the pictures resemble the sketch we've been circulating, but…"

"I know. We were the ones that were quick to kick it to them."

"We need to get CSU out here. If Sherman's crew knew Adrianna was staying her, they may have searched the place. Maybe we can get some prints."

"And match them up with the ones from the guardrail," I added as I pulled out my phone.

We waited for CSU to arrive and then we headed back to 1PP.

So at five o'clock, the captain stuck his head out of his office.

"Detectives. A word."

Great. I didn't want to deal with him. I was getting more and more nervous about this undercover thing, and I hated that he was going to be there, and now he wanted to ramp up my anxieties with some of his petty observations.

Bobby stood back to let me go first, so I led the way into the office. I idly wondered if that was because he was being chivalrous or because he wanted to look at my ass. I was going to have to ask him that some time when we were in a more appropriate setting.

"So we're all set for tonight," Ross said once the door was closed. "We'll have the com van parked down the block and an SUV across the street. I'll try to keep visual contact with you, but in all likelihood, he'll want to move you away from the bar to conduct the business."

It hit me that Ross was nervous about this thing, too. I hadn't looked at it from his perspective. He was probably still getting a lot of heat from the brass to get this case solved.

"I'm not going to tell you guys how to act or what to say. I know you know what you're doing."

"Thank sir. I appreciate the vote of confidence," I said. And I did.

"Logan and Barek are welcome to sit in the SUV with me to help keep watch." _As if he could keep them away_. Logan had been chomping at the bit for this night.

"I know they'll be pleased to hear that," Bobby said. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ross was being too nice.

"I just wanted to say that I understand this might be uncomfortable for you two, going into this as a couple, especially when you used to be one. Are you sure you both can handle this?"

"Yes sir," I said quickly. "I can assure you, we're perfectly fine with it."

"Okay. Good. Thank you for your professionalism. You do what you have to do, and say what you have to say to sell the cover. Don't think about the fact that I'm listening."

It was a weird conversation and I was grateful when we were finally allowed to leave his office.

"That had to be Rodgers talking," Bobby said as we got on the elevator. "She's got his balls in a vice over us."

"She certainly does have a soft spot for you," I agreed.

"So…home?"

"Home."

At seven-thirty, we headed for Slattery's. I had a bug in my ear and a wire in my bra. I was dressed to the hilt again, but it was a little easier on Bobby this time, because he would be able to stake his claim on me in front of Sherman.

Bobby was looking good enough to eat in a black Armani suit with a crisp white shirt and a black silk tie. He pulled off the rich Italian with ease, and he started slipping into the Italian accent as we walked towards the bar.

"Do you think Ross knows Italian?" he asked me with a grin. He clasped my hand tightly and despite the cold, I was enjoying the walk.

"Probably not," I replied. We hadn't turned on our com devices yet, so we were still good.

"Voglio passare il resto della mia vita con te," he said smoothly. "Remember that."

"Are you going to clue me in?"

He swung me around in front of him and brought my hands up to his lips.

"Bobby, we're almost there. They might be able to see us."

"But we forgot one important thing," he told me as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a beautiful ring, an emerald-cut diamond solitaire. He slid it onto my finger.

"You're my fiancé, right?" he asked softly.

My heart was pounding in my chest. I was breathless and wracked with emotion. I couldn't believe he had thought to pick up a ring. I couldn't even imagine when he'd had the chance to do it, but he had and it was real, not some prop.

"It means, I want to spend the rest of my life with you." I didn't know if he was referring to the Italian phrase or the ring. Probably both.

Unshed tears burned in my eyes. I didn't give a damn who was watching. I grabbed his face in both hands and kissed him with everything I had. He pulled me up flush against him and returned the passion. Pedestrians had to move around us since we were in the middle of the sidewalk, but I just didn't care.

"Alexa!"

I heard the voice, but I couldn't stop kissing him.

"Alexa! Is that you?"

Reluctantly, I pulled back from Bobby, keeping my eyes on his until the last possible second, and then I turned and faced Sherman. I played with my earring briefly and managed to get the com device turned on. I saw Bobby fiddle with his watch band, so I assumed he did the same.

"Sherman, how are you?" I asked in my Boston accent.

"I'm good," he said as he took my hand and brought it to his lips. My left hand. The stone caught his eye immediately and he faltered for a moment before plastering a smile back in place.

"Sherman, meet my fiancé Roberto Giovanni."

"This is your client?"

"Well, yes," I told him. And then I gave him a wink and added, "We like to work together as well as play together."

"Benvenuto," Bobby said, shaking Sherman's hand. "So nice to meet you."

We stood on the sidewalk, sizing each other up, and then Sherman gestured down the block towards the bar.

"It's a little early, but I was just on my way in for a drink before our meeting," he said. "Care to join me?"

"Of course," I agreed. Bobby put his arm around my shoulders and together we followed Sherman to Slattery's.

"I think my daughter may be here as well," he said. "I told her all about you and she's dying to meet you."

Dying to meet_ me_? I wondered what he meant by that.

I noticed the black SUV parked along the side of the street and I knew that we had been within sight of it a few minutes before, when I had kissed Bobby. But of course, since Sherman had met us on the street, it worked in our favor. Clearly we had been playing up to him rather than our own passion. Or that was my story anyway.

Sherman held the door for us, and we went inside. The warmth of the bar was a welcome change from the chilly night air. Bobby took off my coat for me and then hung both of ours on a rack near the door.

"Vodka martini, right Alexa?" Sherman asked with a smarmy grin.

"That's right. Good memory."

"I never forget anything about a beautiful woman." He made me want to puke. But then it got worse.

"Daddy! Introduce me to your friends!"

Ashley Moser, smelling fully like the last five corpses I'd sniffed and looking every bit like a thousand-dollar-an-hour hooker, approached us at the bar and gave Bobby a serious once-over.

"Ashley, honey, this is Roberto Giovanni." Bobby took her offered hand and politely kissed the knuckles. She smiled at him and then wormed her way in between us. I started to bristle, and then she turned toward me.

"And this is Alexa McRainey," Sherman said.

I held out my hand but she ignored it, opting instead to kiss me full on the mouth. And we were right in front of the window, too, so I could only imagine Logan's eyes were bugging out of his head.

"It is so great to meet you," she purred. "Daddy said you were beautiful, but damn..."

"Uh…thank you...but I um…I'm also engaged," I said as I slid from her grasp and molded myself against Bobby. "I'm sorry if there was a misunderstanding."

"Oh, that's okay," she said. I started to breathe a little easier. "He's cute. I don't mind an extra."

This girl had sex on the brain. All we wanted to do was get information, and apparently all she wanted to do was have a threesome.

Oh, this was going to be a long night.

TBC...


	15. Chapter 15

**Logan POV**

* * *

Carolyn and I got to Slattery's and slipped into the SUV with Ross. I wasn't looking forward to spending the next however many hours with the man, but it was the least I could do for my friends. They were probably going to need some help with deflection.

"Logan, Barek," Ross said simply by way of greeting. He was in the driver's seat, which was on the opposite side of Slattery's. I got into the passenger front seat and Carolyn got in the back directly behind me.

"Captain," I replied out of habit. And then because I thought I should, I added, "Thank you for letting us sit in on this."

"Don't mention it." He said this while giving me a hard stare, so I assumed he meant it literally. _Point taken_.

After twenty minutes of awkward silence, Goren and Eames came down the sidewalk. And then they stopped, thirty yards from the door to Slattery's. I saw Goren swing her around in front of him so that she was facing him and he was holding her hands.

"What are they doing?" Ross asked. At first, I had no idea, but then it hit me. _Shit_. He was going to give her the ring. Didn't they realize they were in full view already?

See, Goren had gone with me a few weeks earlier when I had purchased the bands for Carolyn and me. I didn't trust my own taste in expensive jewelry so I had talked him into tagging along. And while we were there, he bought a diamond ring. He had told me that he didn't know if she would ever be able to wear it, but that he wanted to give it to her anyway. I thought it was going to be a Christmas present, but I guess he changed his mind.

"The cover story is that they're engaged," I reminded Ross smoothly. "Goren picked up a prop ring for her to wear."

Of course, at that moment, Eames grabbed Goren and kissed him.

"That's part of the cover, too?" Ross asked.

"Yeah, look. Here comes Sherman," Carolyn spoke up. _Oh thank God_. "That was perfect. The two of them acting like that out on the sidewalk where they didn't expect him to be pretty much seals up their cover story. He'll buy it now, without question."

"Hmm," Ross mumbled.

"Smart move, Goren," I said, mostly for Ross' benefit.

The three of them went into the bar and in a matter of minutes, Ashley approached the group.

"Ross, meet Ashley Moser," I muttered. My skin was still crawling at the thought of how she had draped herself over me.

We watched as she looked hungrily at Goren. And then she turned on Eames.

"Oh my God," I said. I couldn't help myself. Ashley laid a kiss on Eames and I felt like I was watching some kind of porno flick. With my former boss and my wife. And it starred my two best friends. This was just too much.

And then Ashley suggested a threesome. Ross let out some kind of strangled sound, but the ever-cool Carolyn spoke up quickly.

"Let me talk to them, Captain," she said, reaching for the mike. Ross was in too much shock to do anything but hand it over.

"Don't rebuff her advances, Alex," Carolyn said. Ross' eyebrows went sky high. He opened his mouth to speak, but Carolyn waved him off. "You need to keep leading her on, or you're going to scare her away. If she thinks that there's nothing in this for her, she'll leave."

_**"Let's take care of business first," **_Eames told Ashley, running her hand down the length of Ashley's arm.

"Good, Alex," Carolyn encouraged. "You need to stroke her ego."

Inside, Eames laughed out loud. I know she didn't mean to do it because everyone looked at her suddenly. She covered nicely.

_**"I just can't believe how great this night is turning out,"**_ she told them._ **"Roberto and I were just talking about bringing someone new into the bedroom."**_

I could only imagine that Ross was wishing he was just about anywhere else but here, listening to his two best detectives talk about a ménage a trois with a suspect.

"That's right," Carolyn said. "She needs you to be an admirer and then she'll open up. If she thinks you envy her, desire her, she'll want to impress you."

_**"Of course," **_Alex said suddenly._** "I was thinking about a guy. Our friend Mike, actually. I kissed him today, just to see if there were any sparks."**_

_What? _

"What?" Ross said, echoing my thoughts. "Please tell me that this somehow fits into the cover story."

"I don't know why she's bringing that up," I said. And then I realized what I said, essentially admitting to the truth of the incident.

"So…"

_**"And?" **_Ashley was asking Alex.

_**"Nothing like just now with you," **_Alex replied in a husky voice. And damned if Ashley didn't lean over and kiss her again. Eames was going to win an Oscar for this night.

"Well," I began. I needed to explain this to Ross so that he didn't think we were all sexual deviants, but he interrupted me.

"Logan, I really don't want to know."

"No it's…" And then I saw it. Or rather, saw _him_. The guy that picked up the money. He was approaching their group from across the room. Eames was bringing up the kiss to try to let Goren know that this was the guy.

"That's the guy," I told Carolyn. "The pick-up guy." She quickly relayed the information through the mike to Goren in case he hadn't picked up on Eames' clue. But who am I kidding? Eames could have just looked at the guy and Goren would have known what she was thinking.

_**"Alexa, Roberto – this is Tommy Booker," **_Sherman said, introducing the pick-up guy.

Ross picked up his cell phone.

"Get me everything you can on Thomas Booker," he ordered. "Call me back."

He hung up the phone and we watched intently as Tommy shook hands with Goren and Eames. I didn't see even a flicker of recognition on his face, so that was good.

"_**Let's move this party to a table, shall we?"**_ Sherman suggested.

The five of them headed away from the bar, but the table they chose was still visible through the front windows. I grabbed the binoculars off the dashboard before Ross could get to them.

"I've got a better vantage point," I told him, holding them up to my eyes.

Ashley sat down next to Eames, who then scooted as close as possible to Goren. Any second now, Eames was going to end up on the big guy's lap just because she was trying to escape being groped by Ashley.

"They're certainly going all out selling the engaged-couple bit," Ross commented dryly.

"I think she's just trying to get away from Ashley," I replied.

"_**So, Roberto. You're looking for…what?" **_Sherman asked.

"Get them riled up, Goren. That'll tell us who is running things," Carolyn said.

"_**Uh uh. First you need to tell me a little about this whole thing," **_Goren told Sherman.

"_**Why?"**_

"_**I'm curious. How do I know I'm not walking into some kind of set up? You could be cops."**_

"_**You could be cops," **_Sherman countered.

"_**I could feel them up," **_Ashley offered, looking to Tommy._** "You know, for wires."**_

Tommy nodded so Eames and Goren both reluctantly stood up, holding their arms out from their bodies.

"I hope they hid them well," I said wryly as I watched Ashley run her hands over Eames' ass.

"I don't think she cares about finding any wires," Carolyn mused. "I also can't tell who's in charge here. Sherman started the business talk, but when Ashley asked to check for wires, she looked at Tommy."

"Maybe because he's the muscle," Ross suggested.

"_**They're clean,"**_ Ashley declared after shamelessly feeling up both detectives.

"_**What about you two?" **_Goren asked Tommy and Sherman. Sherman shrugged and pulled something out of his pocket.

"What's he got?" Ross asked.

"Looks like coke," I told him. And it was. Sherman laid out a line each for him and Tommy.

"I hope they don't offer some to my detectives," Ross said.

"They know how to get out of doing drugs on an undercover," I reminded him with irritation. _As_ _if Goren and Eames would snort coke_…

"A good business owner wouldn't be doing lines, especially in front of a client," Carolyn spoke up.

"They're escort business owners," Ross countered.

"Ever see a drug dealer actually doing drugs?" she asked him. "When there's money to be made, you're not getting high."

Ross slowly nodded in acquiescence.

"_**Would a cop do coke?" **_Sherman was asking Goren.

"_**I don't know," **_Goren replied._ **"Would you?"**_

"_**I'm not a fucking cop, okay? Now do you want to do this or not?"**_

"_**Yeah, I want to do this."**_

"_**Good. So what are you looking for?"**_

"_**Four, maybe five girls," **_he replied._** "Thirty-six hours."**_

"_**That's going to cost you."**_

"_**I'm listening."**_

"_**Thousand an hour, per girl. If you go with five girls, it's going to run you a hundred and eighty large."**_

"Holy smokes, no wonder this guy's got cash everywhere," I muttered. "Even splitting it three ways, they've got to be rolling in it. Because you know that those girls aren't getting shit."

"_**That sounds fair," **_Eames said, again moving closer to Goren. Ashley's hands were under the table and I could only imagine what they were doing.

"_**Of course, you're welcome to sample the merchandise,"**_ Sherman offered. I noticed Tommy give him a quick glare._ **"I'm sure Ashley will keep your fiancé company."**_

"_**Oh, that won't be necessary. But I would like to see my options."**_

"_**No, you just tell us what you're looking for. We'll supply your needs," **_Tommy told him. Obviously he didn't want Goren getting close to any girls that he hadn't paid for.

"_**I don't get to see them? How can I be sure I'll get what I've paid for?"**_

"_**These are top of the line escorts. They're all between eighteen and twenty-one, all very beautiful."**_

**_"And they're willing to do...what?"_**

_**"Whatever you want them to do," **_Tommy said proudly.

"So Tommy handles the girls. Ashley recruits the ones from college, and Sherman brings in others as needed," Ross commented. It was the first astute thing I'd heard him say all evening.

"So we're missing another player," Carolyn concluded.

"Yep. There's one more in this game," I agreed.

"_**Where do you find them all?" **_Eames was asking Ashley as though she were enthralled by the prospect.

"_**Some are NYU students, with me," **_Ashley told her. As she spoke, she picked up Eames' hand and held it between her own.

"_**That is amazing. How do you get them all interested in this line of work?"**_

"_**We pay them well for their time."**_

**_"So you just call them up and tell them where to be?" _**Eames asked.

**_"That's right. And we only work with wealthy clients, so the girls are treated well."_**

"_**I'm not sure if I want only American girls," **_Goren said to Tommy._** "My clients are Swiss. I would like some European girls as well."**_

"_**We can accommodate you."**_

"_**Okay then. Six o'clock. Wednesday evening at the Millenium Hotel. I'll be hosting a party. Have your girls come in and Alexa will introduce them to the gentlemen that they need to pay special attention to."**_

"_**I need money up front. Half."**_

"_**I handle his money," **_Eames spoke up._ **"Call me at my office tomorrow and give me the banking information. I'll wire the first half to you then, and the second half on Thursday, after I'm sure the girls are holding up their end of the bargain."**_

Eames held out a business card, waiting to see which of the three would take it. Ashley did.

"_**I take care of the money, too. See? Something else we have in common. Now if business is taken care of…"**_

Ashley grabbed Eames by the back of the head and kissed her again. I was going to have a lot of trouble getting these images out of my head, that was for sure. I mean, okay, so Ashley was obviously a sex addict. But still…

"Agree to leave with her," Carolyn told Goren and Eames. I saw Eames visibly stiffen and I knew she was just as confused as I was.

"Trust me," she added, and then she handed the mike to me. She ran her fingers through her hair and unbuttoned the top three buttons on her blouse. I watched, mesmerized by her actions, and then I noticed that Ross was watching, too. I glared at him until he pulled his eyes away.

"_**Can we get out of here?" **_Eames asked in suggestive voice.

"_**My place isn't too far," **_Ashley agreed quickly, hopping up from the table.

"I hope you know what you're doing," I told her. She gave me a grin.

"I'm saving our friends from further molestation. We got the information we needed for tonight. We can have the sting set up for Wednesday night, right?"

"Right," Ross agreed.

I looked back toward the bar and watched as Goren and Eames made their way to the door, with Ashley hot on their heels. Sherman and Tommy still sat at the same table. Carolyn got out of the car and hustled across the street.

**_"Alexa!" _**she called out as the three came out of Slattery's. Carolyn went straight over to Eames and gave her a tight hug.

"I don't think I want to see this, do I?" Ross asked.

"Probably not," I muttered, but I damn sure did.

Carolyn pulled back from the hug and kissed Eames and then reached up and kissed Bobby before acknowledging Ashley's presence.

_**"Oh, who is your friend?" **_she asked innocently.

_**"Ashley Moser," **_Ashley said, introducing herself.

_**"Carrie Logan," **_Carolyn said._** "I'm Alexa's…I don't know, honey. What would you call us?"**_

Eames recovered nicely and put her arm around Carolyn's shoulders.

_**"We go back quite a ways," **_she said with a laugh._ **"I was with Carrie before Roberto."**_

_**"I can't believe I ran into you two," **_Carolyn said._** "I just moved back into town, and I was hoping, well…"**_

She ran her hand down Eames' cheek in a loving gesture and then took Goren by the hand.

_**"We have some catching up to do. You understand, don't you Annie?" **_Carolyn said.

_**"It's Ashley," **_the girl corrected.

_**"Call me tomorrow, Ashley," **_Eames told her._ **"We'll take care of business and then maybe we can set something up for another time."**_

Ashley didn't like being left on the sidewalk, but she didn't put up a fight. She watched while her conquests were hustled down the block by Carolyn and then she turned and went back into the bar. She pulled out her cell phone.

"I wish we still had ears in there," I commented, pointing out to Ross that Ashley was on the phone. Ross pulled out his cell.

"Get me the phone records for Ashley Moser's cell. I want to know who she's calling right now. Did you get the information on Thomas Booker?"

Ross listened for a minute and then hung up.

"Booker's clean. But get this. He's an amateur UFC fighter."

"He's definitely our killer," I said. I watched Ashley as she settled herself onto a bar stool and ordered another drink, her phone still against her ear. "I wonder who she's calling now that _her_ motor's running."

My phone rang. It was Carolyn.

"Meet us at McNally's," she told me when I answered. "I think Alex needs a few drinks."

"I think I do, too. I'll be there as soon as I can."

**TBC...**


	16. Chapter 16

**Bobby POV**

* * *

I watched Alex as she tossed back her fourth shot.

I knew the evening had been a challenge for her. Hell, it had been a challenge for _me_. Ashley had been blatant and forceful with her desire of Alex and while I had escaped with minimal groping, it had still been a test of my willpower to not just scoop her up and take her out of that bar.

"When you told me to take her up on her offer…" Alex said to Carolyn, the laugh bubbling out of her. "I didn't know what to think."

"I couldn't figure out how to get you guys out of there without either going through with it or pissing her off," Carolyn admitted.

"It was a good plan," I told her with a grin.

"I bet Ross loved it," Alex said. She kept a smile plastered on her face and her eyes were looking a little sleepy. Yeah, she can drink, but four shots in half an hour were a whole lot for a woman her size.

"Oh, I'm sure he did. That, watching you get kissed by Ashley, watching you and Bobby kiss on the sidewalk…oh, hey - what was up with that anyway? You got lucky having Sherman walk up when he did. Mike pointed out to Ross that it was a smart move, but there's no way you saw him," Carolyn said. Alex held out her left hand.

"Bobby gave me this," she told her. "I lost my head for a minute."

Carolyn eyeballed the ring carefully. Alex had already asked me about it in the car on the way over:

"_It was really sweet of you to get such a beautiful ring," she had told me quietly. Carolyn was in the back on the phone with Mike._

"_I'm glad you like it. I was worried about it." _

"_Worried? That I wouldn't like it?"_

"_That you might not want to accept it," I had admitted. She looked at me as long as she could while the traffic light was red._

"_So you're giving this to me for real?"_

"_You heard what I said," I had insisted. "Voglio passare il resto della mia vita con te. I know you can't wear it all the time, but I wanted you to have it. I wanted you to have some tangible proof of my love for you."_

"_Bobby," she had replied, her voice catching on her emotion. _

_I had picked up her hand and kissed it, wishing desperately that we were alone and not in the car. I wanted her, wanted to erase all memory of anyone else touching her. I had learned that I wasn't just jealous of men touching her, but women as well. Equal opportunity jealousy, I thought wryly._

"_I love you," she had said quietly. "And maybe I can't say it as eloquently as you, but I want to spend the rest of my life with you, too. And I'll wear this every second that we're not working."_

Carolyn let go of Alex's hand and gave me a smile.

"I would hug you guys, but I think we've done enough of the touchy-feely stuff for tonight. But congratulations! Are you going to wear it?"

"When we're not at work," she said.

"Well, it's beautiful. You have good taste," she added, looking at me.

"Oh yeah, when did you have time to get it?" Alex asked me.

"I bought it a few weeks ago."

"You went with Mike, didn't you?" Carolyn asked.

"Went with Mike where?" Logan had arrived and slid into the booth next to Carolyn. "Oh, and FYI – Ross will be here in a minute. He's parking the car. I talked him into letting me out when he couldn't find a spot up front. He's circling the block, but I wanted to be able to give you guys a heads up."

"What the hell is Ross doing here?" Alex asked as she moved over to allow for some room between us. I immediately missed the warm press of her thigh against mine.

"He heard me take the call," Logan said, tipping his head towards Carolyn. "He thought it would be a good way to do a quick debriefing."

"That's just great," Alex said, calling to the waitress for another shot.

"Maybe you should hold off on those," I said in her ear. "Just until Ross leaves."

Alex just shook her head and gave me a mischievous grin.

"I'm thinking Wonder Woman, Bobby."

"What?" Logan asked. "Oh wait, maybe I don't want to know."

"Alex…"

I knew what she meant. To hell with Ross. And I completely understood her sentiment, but now was probably not the time to be making that kind of decision, especially considering the amount of Irish whiskey she had in her system.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything rash," she assured me. And then she gave me that smile, and I was a goner. Alex could tell me that she was going to flay my skin off of me one inch at a time with a machete and as long as she smiled at me like that, I would go along with it.

"But you can still be Wonder Woman later," I whispered quickly before straightening up in my seat. It was just in time, too, because at that moment, Ross walked into the bar.

"Detectives," he said in greeting. I could tell he wasn't sure where to sit since we were at a booth. Slide in next to Mike or Alex? He grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat at the end.

"Captain," Alex said before tossing back shot number five. Man, she was going to be hung over in the morning. "What did you think of our performance?"

"Very nice job," he replied. He ordered his drink from the waitress and Alex ordered another. She turned to me fully so that Ross couldn't see her face and gave me a wink. And then she slid her foot up my ankle, underneath my slacks. I was in trouble.

"So we're good for Wednesday night?" I confirmed, trying to stay focused on the work. I was grateful that I was only sipping my second scotch. One of us needed to stay sober, and apparently that one was me. Of course, she totally deserved it. I wasn't going to begrudge her a little alcohol.

"We'll get full back-up there. When the girls get there, we'll be ready to take them into custody. I've got a couple of guys sitting on the bar now, just to keep an eye on things. After Wednesday night, we'll be able to pick up Sherman and Tommy. We can match up the prints from the guard rail. I have no doubt you were able to get some DNA from Ashley, but did you pull anything off Sherman?"

Alex pulled out an evidence bag and laid it on the table. Ross picked it up.

"You got a hair?"

Alex nodded but didn't elaborate. It had been a challenge, but when hugging him goodbye, she had managed to catch her bracelet in his hair.

Ross tucked the bag in his jacket pocket.

"What did Ashley do after we left?" Carolyn asked.

"She made a call. I've got a guy looking into that. We should be able to track down the number once it pops on the records."

"There's someone else involved," I said. Carolyn nodded.

"I got that, too," she agreed. "Maybe that's who Ashley called."

"Either that, or she was arranging a hook up. You guys sure got her worked up," Logan said. _Thank you for bringing that up, Mike._

"Yes, about that," Ross began. I did an internal eye roll and braced myself, because I knew that if he pissed Alex off, she wasn't going to be shy about letting him know. And then I would have to break out my Batman costume because we would be working at the Justice League instead of 1PP.

"That was some of the best undercover work I've seen yet," he said, stunning me speechless. "You two had me truly believing your act, and you were able to stay in character long enough to reel in the suspects despite some…adverse behavior."

"Thank you, Captain," I managed to say.

"No, I mean it. I was concerned that due to your…situation…that you wouldn't be able to maintain a good cover. I was afraid that the body language would be off. But you pulled it off. In fact, if I didn't know better…"

He trailed off as his attention was caught by Alex grabbing her glass. With her left hand.

"Very nice prop, Detective," he said to me, but not taking his eyes off the ring. Alex's face was flushed, but it was hard to say whether it was from the alcohol or his comment. I mean, I knew which one, but I hoped Ross didn't.

"It is nice, isn't it?" she replied thoughtfully as she brought her glass to her lips. What really surprised me was that Alex didn't make a move to take it off. She maitained eye contact with Ross while she slowly drank her whiskey.

Ross just kept staring at her. I knew he wanted a closer look at the ring, but he wasn't going to ask. And in the darkened bar, it would be hard for him to confirm from a distance that it was the real deal.

"I hope it's not so excessive that it'll be a red flag on your expense report," he commented before he took a drink of his beer. He had a look of satisfaction on his face as though he was sure he had caught us.

Before I could respond, Carolyn spoke up.

"It's mine," she told him. "Or rather, it was my mother's. I loaned it to Bobby and Alex to use for their cover. Bobby's supposed to be rich. It wouldn't have worked very well for Alex to have a crackerbox ring on her finger."

"Good point," Ross conceded. His cell phone started ringing and I was grateful because it meant he stepped away from the table for a minute. And I could pull Alex's hand from my thigh where it had been drawing delightful patterns during the whole exchange with Ross.

"Behave yourself," I whispered to her as I placed her hand back in her own lap. She grabbed onto my hand and held it there, just at the edge of where her short skirt splayed against her bare thigh.

"Alex…" I warned, although I silently begged for Ross to hurry up and go home.

"He's coming back," Logan warned.

"That was Liz. I need to go pick her up. But really, very nice job tonight," he said again, pulling out his wallet.

"I've got it, Captain," Logan told him but Ross waved him off.

"A couple of rounds on me," Ross insisted, putting two twenties on the table.

"I don't want to see you two in the office until ten," he added with a nod to me and Alex.

Ross left and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Nice save, Carolyn," I told her appreciatively.

"He was still fishing," she replied casually. "And I had a point. What did he expect you to use?"

"I wish he had asked me about it," Alex said, slurring her words a little. "Then maybe I would've reminded _him_ about him and _his_ secret wife. It's okay for _him_ to break the rules but not us? Fucking hypocrite."

Yeah, okay. She was drunk. But we were among friends now, so it wouldn't hurt to let her blow off a little steam.

"So what's with the Wonder Woman thing?" Logan asked. I should've known he would come back to that.

"Because we're superheroes," Alex told him with an atypical giggle.

"What?"

"We were talking about what would happen if we got caught and Ross tried to break us up. We said we'd quit," I explained.

"And come to work with us, right?" Carolyn asked.

"Well, yeah. But we were going to talk with you about it first."

"I think it's a great idea," Logan said. "Think of all we could get done if we weren't trying to figure out a way around all the damn politics."

"That's right. We don't need to talk about it. When you're ready to quit the department, we'll work together," Carolyn said.

Two hours later, I practically carried Alex back to the apartment. She was going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, but she seemed to have successfully exorcised her demons from the evening.

"Bobby," she said as she tried to take off her boots. I watched her for a minute before I sat her down on the couch so that I could take them off myself.

"Yeah, honey?" I asked absently. It wasn't very often that I was witness to Alex drunk. It was entertaining and her thought process was all over the place. It was impossible to guess what would be the next thing out of her mouth.

"Have you ever been with two women?"

"What? We've talked about our sexual pasts," I reminded her. I got one boot off and I rubbed her foot for a moment before switching to the other.

"At once. Two women at the same time," she clarified. _Oh_.

I looked up at her and found her staring right back at me. I was on the floor, at her feet, which seemed to me like an appropriate position since I worshipped the ground she walked on.

"No," I replied.

"I was just wondering. You know, if that was something that interested you. Logan looked like he was pretty worked up."

"Logan's always worked up."

"You know what I mean," she said. And then when I thought we were going to get into some whole discussion about that, she switched it up on me again.

"What if we got married and didn't tell anyone?" she mused.

"Then what would be the point?" I asked, rubbing my hands up her legs.

"We would know," she said simply. I was still on my knees in front of her on the couch. I watched her as she fingered the diamond that looked like it was made just for her hand.

"We already know," I whispered fiercely. She looked at me then and I couldn't hold back my desire. I reached up and brushed her hair back from her face and then kissed her eagerly.

"Bobby," she said when I pulled back.

"Yeah?" I asked, quickly working the buttons on her blouse.

"I think the other person is a woman."

"What?" I asked, faltering in my movements.

"In the operation," she said. "I think the missing suspect is a woman."

"A lover of Ashley's?" I asked, slowly following her train of thought.

"Did you see how easily she deferred to Carolyn? We were her territory, and yet she stood back and let us go with Carolyn."

"You think it's someone that resembles her. Maybe Eastern European?" I asked. I don't know why I was surprised by her perceptive conclusion. With or without the whiskey, Alex was a damn good detective.

She nodded and grinned at me.

"You always know what I'm thinking."

"It's tough when you've been hitting the Jameson's," I teased. "But I don't think now is the time for thinking about work."

"What's it time for?" she asked suggestively, hooking her legs around my waist and pulling me closer to her.

"I want to see how this ring looks on you."

"It's on me."

"I mean…"

"I know," she smiled, rising slowly and pulling off her blouse. "The ring and nothing else."

TBC...


	17. Chapter 17

Alex POV

* * *

I woke in the morning to a pounding head. It wasn't a surprise. The only surprise was that I was actually in a bed rather than sitting on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet, which was what I awoke to the last time I drank so much whiskey.

Of course, this time I had Bobby. And I could feel him now, pressed up against my back. Last night, he'd made sure that I drank plenty of water and took a few aspirins before he carried me off to bed. So while I still had a headache, I would likely be able to function.

It was early and it was only my desperation to use the bathroom that pulled me from sleep. I slipped out of Bobby's arms and took care of business. When I was done, I washed my face and brushed my teeth and then headed into the kitchen for another glass of water. I sipped the water and stared out the window.

"How's the head?" Bobby asked softly. He was pretty light on his feet. I hadn't even realized he was awake.

"I'll live. Thanks for making me drink the water last night."

"You're welcome," he said, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me. "Are you coming back to bed?"

"I was planning on it. We don't have to be there until ten, right?"

"Oh, so you remember that?" he teased.

"I remember the whole night, thank you very much. I wasn't that drunk."

"So you remember that thing you showed me? That little trick you learned from one of the hookers you picked up when you worked in Vice?"

Okay, so I had forgotten about that. What could I say? Some of those girls were chatty and very proud of their trade secrets.

I still couldn't stop the deep blush, and I felt Bobby's chuckle rumbling through him.

"Oh my God," I moaned. "I'm sorry."

"Oh no, please. Do not be sorry. I'm wondering when we can do that again," he said in a low voice, right in my ear.

"You try to pretend to be such a good girl," he continued, running his hand underneath my t-shirt. It was actually his t-shirt, but I was wearing it as pajamas. "But I know better."

"I am a good girl," I insisted, although without much heat. I leaned my head back against his bare chest and enjoyed the feeling of his hands.

"Your skin is so hot," he whispered.

"It's the hangover," I said. "It raises the body temperature."

"No, it's just you," he countered, grabbing the hem of my shirt and pulling it over my head. His hands slid down my arms until they reached my hands, and then he leaned me over the kitchen counter, draping himself over my back.

"I can't get enough of you," he murmured into my neck. "And no more kissing other people, okay? No women, no men. Just me."

"You're not going to hear any argument from me," I said.

His hands kept stroking me, starting fires everywhere they touched. I was starting to breathe heavily as he was getting me worked up, but he made no move to take it to the next level.

"Stop teasing," I told him, reaching behind me to grab him. All of that attention was usually a good thing, but sometimes I just needed to get to the point.

"Yes ma'am," he replied, pushing into me and knocking my hips against the counter. He grabbed onto me to keep me from hitting the wood, his knuckles taking the brunt of the action rather than my hip bones. Always the gentleman, my Bobby.

And as I felt myself getting closer and closer to the edge, I remembered another one of our conversations from last night. And I made a decision.

"Bobby."

"Yeah?"

I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was almost there…but I didn't want to wait another minute.

"I do want to get married. Let's do it."

His next move took me completely by surprise. He stepped back from me and turned me around, smoothly lifting me up onto the counter before burying himself back inside. He put one hand behind me to keep me from sliding backwards, and his other hand went to my cheek. He met my gaze and I was just overwhelmed with the emotion he held in his eyes.

"I love you, Alex," he said huskily. "I love you so much. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

Ross be damned. I wanted to get married.

And if our boss didn't like it, then we'd find another job. Life was too damn short.

* * *

We got into the office around nine-thirty. I was probably going to want to crash around two o'clock, but so far I was riding high. And so was Bobby. We walked into 1PP grinning like idiots.

Of course, we still had a case to solve. And we still needed to find the fourth suspect. Obviously the hope had been that we would have met this person last night, but since that didn't happen we were going to have to find him ourselves. Or her. I thought that maybe I was onto something with my theory that the last suspect was a woman.

I had my undercover cell in my pocket, the one that Ashley would be calling when she was ready for me to transfer the money. We hadn't really established a time, but I assumed they would be anxious. Ninety grand was a good chunk of change and our tech wizard was ready to make the exchange look real.

Bobby scanned through the background file that Ross had ordered to be put together on Thomas Booker while I took a call from Rodgers.

"Based on the initial findings, Sherman Moser is not ruled out as the father of Felcia's baby," she told me.

"But you can't say for sure that he is," I clarified. DNA tests took awhile and I was rarely patient enough to wait.

"I'm saying the preliminary results didn't rule him out. That's all. Considering that he knew the victim, it drastically increases his chances, but I just can't say for sure yet."

"When will you know?"

"Definitively? Another few days. But I can get it down to a likelihood by tomorrow."

"Okay. Thanks Liz."

I hung up just as my other cell was ringing. I grabbed it and took off for a conference room. I didn't want any squad room background noise to give me away. Bobby followed me and closed the door.

"Alexa McRainey," I answered, putting her on speaker.

"Hey sweetie!" she replied enthusiastically. I rolled my eyes, but then responded in kind.

"Ashley! I was wondering when you were going to call! I'm so sorry about the mix-up last night. I just hadn't seen Carrie in such a long time."

"It's okay. I understand," she said. And then she lowered her voice. "You know, I have a friend who I think would really be into Carrie. Maybe next time you leave Roberto at home and the four of us can get together. You know, me, you, your friend, my friend…"

It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud when I saw the look on Bobby's face. And then he nodded at me encouragingly and I realized that she might be talking about the fourth suspect. We couldn't pass up the chance. It would be risky, because Sherman had seen Carolyn and knew her real identity. We would have to be sure to arrange something where he wouldn't be involved.

"That might be nice," I agreed. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, Elka has been out of the country for the last few days, but she's due back in later tonight."

"Elka, huh? Is she from Germany?" I knew she wasn't, but I didn't want to guess correctly.

"Poland actually. She's been over there making business connections. But I just know she and Carrie would hit it off. And then maybe you and I would have some time…"

"Maybe tomorrow night you can bring her to Roberto's party," I suggested smoothly. "Carrie will be there."

"And Roberto?"

"He'll be there of course, but he'll be so busy with his clients that he won't have time for me. I'm sure I'll be able to slip away for a little while."

"I like the sound of that," she said quickly.

"So do you bring the girls with you?" I asked.

"Tommy will bring them," she told me. "But I'll bring Elka over later."

"And your dad?"

"Does it make you nervous with my dad around?" she said with a laugh.

"A little, yeah," I admitted. I needed to confirm where he would be so that he didn't accidentally run into Carolyn.

"He'll stay at Slattery's, I promise."

Bobby was nodding and smiling at me, and I had to smile too. This was huge and it was falling into place perfectly. We could pick up Tommy as he brought in the girls. Sherman would be arrested at Slattery's. And Ashley would be coming in later with her friend who was possibly the missing piece of the puzzle. Between me and Carolyn, we would hopefully be able to get her to say something that would tie her into everything.

I finished out my conversation with Ashley. She gave me the bank routing and account numbers so that I could wire the ninety grand, and I assured her that it would be done by the end of the business day.

After hanging up, Bobby came up close to me.

"You did great," he told me. He slid his finger along my hand subtly, stopping briefly to run it over the diamond that still sat on my finger. I couldn't bring myself to take it off, especially now that we'd decided to make things official.

We had decided to just not say anything to Ross. But when he asked, and he _would_ ask sooner or later, we would tell him. Otherwise, we would maintain our professionalism at work like always. As far as I was concerned, our personal lives weren't anyone's business. And I know…there were rules. And I wasn't usually one to break the rules.

But sometimes I did, knowing that there would be consequences. Lord knows being partnered with Bobby for so many years, the rules had been bent to the breaking point a time or two. The only question to ask yourself in those situations is do the benefits of breaking the rules outweigh the cost.

And this time, the answer was absolutely yes.

So I was still wearing the ring. I knew Ross wouldn't ask about it until the case was over.

"Thanks," I told Bobby. "Do you want to be the one to tell Carolyn that our suspected escort kingpin is her date tomorrow night?"

"Oh, no. I'll leave that up to you," he said with a grin.

"Oh, what did Rodgers say?" he asked me as we left the conference room.

"Sherman's not ruled out yet. She's still running the tests."

"It's him. Oh, and hey, we have to be careful with Tommy tomorrow night. He's a UFC fighter."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Yeah, well tell Carolyn, too. She's the one that likes to pick on guys bigger than her. He may be more than she bargains for."

"She carries legally in New York. I'll make sure that if it comes down to it, she'll use her gun and not her hands."

"I need to do some shopping after work. Do you want to come with me?" Bobby asked suddenly.

"Sure," I replied without hesitation.

"Mollie's birthday is coming up. I want to send her something."

"I think that's a great idea."

"In theory, yes," he said with a smile. "But what do I buy for a ten year old girl?"

"Oh, so you only want me along for my feminine expertise?" I teased.

"Of course. Why else?" he asked innocently. I whacked him in the arm with my casefile, but I had to admit that I enjoyed his easy-going attitude. It was such a nice change from only a few months ago.

As I sat down at my desk, my phone rang again. My real phone. I checked it and it was Rodgers again.

"My apologies for not getting to these girls yesterday," she told me when I answered. "Who knew Monday would be so popular for killers in the city? But I'm finishing up with Adrianna Blazejewicz now and Monique Bastock is next. The tox reports are back on both girls."

"We'll be right there."

We went to the morgue and found Liz hovered over Monique Bastock with an instrument in her hand.

"Come on in, Detectives," she said softly, not looking up from her task. "The tox reports are on the table over there."

I headed for the reports and Bobby stood opposite Liz, leaning in to see what she was going for.

"No ketamine for Monique," I said aloud. "In fact, she was completely clean."

"Adrianna?"

"Carbon copy of the reports on Daiya and Anya."

"So our theory still plays out," he said, his head now nearly over top of Rodgers' work space. She stood back and gave me a look.

"Goren," I said to him. He looked up and caught Liz's tolerant stare and then he stood up and waved for her to finish.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "What are you looking at here?"

"There's an injection mark," she said finally. Bobby immediately bent over again to check it out. Rodgers pointed it out to him.

"Recent?" he confirmed.

"Yes. It wasn't made long before her death. It didn't have much time to heal."

"But the tox report is clean. What are our choices for a drug that would be non-detectable?"

"I can run a more thorough test," Rodgers said. "But off the top of my head, I'd say potassium. It causes cardiac arrest and isn't picked up on a standard tox screen."

"So why would a killer who's been beating up girls suddenly switch to a lethal injection?" Bobby posed.

"She wasn't beaten as badly," I pointed out. "And she wasn't one of the escort girls."

Bobby caught my eye and nodded slowly. We were on the same page.

"So you think…"

"Right because otherwise…"

"And that means that…"

"I know."

We grinned at each other and then realized that Rodgers was staring at us.

"Care to translate that for the rest of the class?"

"It's not the same killer," I said. "Women inject poisons, not men. And our other killer is a big guy, a UFC fighter. Why bother with a needle?"

"Right. Ashley Moser killed this girl."

"Because she rejected Ashley's advances or because Monique wanted Adrianna out of the business?" I questioned.

"Does it matter?" Rodgers asked us.

"Yeah, it does," Bobby said. "Because Eames has a date with her tomorrow night."

TBC...


	18. Chapter 18

Logan POV

* * *

I didn't have as much to drink last night as Eames did, but I still had more than my fair share. And I had a headache this morning. I was getting too old to be able to pull off this hangover shit, so I was going to have to lay off the liquor. Maybe I'd just be sure to stick with beer.

It was another night of very little sleep, only this time it had nothing to do with a call-out and had everything to do with Carolyn. My libido was raging by the time we got home, the images in my head from the evening taking over.

"I'm not sure I'm interested," Carolyn told me when I jumped her in the foyer. We had just come through the door and hung our coats.

"Not interested? Since when?"

"Since I'm not sure it's me that got you going," she had replied easily. I thought she was messing with me, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure.

"How do I know," she continued. "That you won't be picturing Ashley and Alex while you're kissing me?"

"Because I'm telling you. I'm not."

"You're not."

"Uh uh. I'm picturing you and Alex kissing," I teased.

That earned me a hard shove in the chest followed by a brief chase around the living room. And then she let me catch her.

"That's fine," she said. "You picture me with Alex. I'll be thinking about Bobby."

Okay, hold the phone. I was okay with him kissing her the other day in the elevator. And then with her kissing him earlier this evening. The first time had been payback and the second time was business. _But she was going to think about him while she was with me_? Uh Uh.

And then she started laughing.

"You are so easy," she told me. "Come here, handsome." She grabbed me by my tie and pulled me to her. She rose up on her toes to kiss me.

"I'm not thinking about anyone but you," she whispered.

"You sure?" I asked, still not sure myself. I hated that I was insecure, especially since I was the one that had started the teasing. I guess it still came back to the fact that I thought Carolyn was way out of my league. And that one day she would see that, too.

"Why would I ever," she began as she took off my tie and started unbuttoning my shirt. "Ever want to think of someone else when I have you?"

"Um…you want me to make a list?"

"Mike. I love you. Just you. So stop, okay?"

I relaxed under her gentle fingers and reassuring words.

"Sorry," I mumbled. I took the initiative to start working on her buttons as well.

"You know Ross was checking you out tonight, right?" I asked.

"What? When?"

"In the car. When you unbuttoned a little before going out to rescue Goren and Eames."

"Oh, that's just…you did not need to tell me that."

"I gave him the death glare and he quit looking."

"I bet you did," she murmured. "Tonight was just ridiculous, wasn't it? I felt like we were back in some seventies sex club."

"We got some good information though. Goren and Eames played it well."

"Yes they did. I'll catch up with them tomorrow and see what's next. And then, four more days with Deakins and then me and you can play together all day every day."

"I can't wait." And I really couldn't. It was going to be a good change for us.

And I was happy to hear that Goren and Eames were thinking about working with us, too…Of course, that was only if Ross busted them and split them up, but the odds of that were pretty high. He was a complete idiot if he bought that whole 'it's only a cover story' act from Slattery's. The chemistry between them was a living, breathing thing and anyone who was around them for more than five seconds could see it.

But I pushed Goren and Eames out of my mind. The sexual undertones of the evening might have gotten me started, but Carolyn was the only one I wanted. So we made good use of the sofa for the better part of the night before finally going up to bed around two-thirty. And then I had to be up at six and into work. Headache and all. The worst part was that I left Carolyn in the bed, but some things couldn't be helped. _Next week_, I reminded myself.

I managed to make it through the morning. After lunch, Carolyn called.

"I have a date tomorrow night," she told me.

"What?"

"Suspect number four, we hope. Alex set it up."

"Remind me to thank her," I said dryly. "What's the deal?"

"Ashley tried for another shot at her. And she said she had a friend who will think I'm hot."

"Well that's a no-brainer. You are hot."

"Thanks. But so the plan is for me and Alex to meet up with Ashley and her friend Elka at the party Roberto is hosting tomorrow night."

"Where's Sherman going to be?"

"Alex covered that. He's staying at Slattery's. And just to be sure, we'll have the unis pick him up quickly. Tommy will be bringing the girls over to the hotel. We should be able to get everybody."

"Assuming this Elka chick is the other perp."

"Right."

"I'm coming with you," I told her. "I know I can't let Ashley see me, but that doesn't mean I won't be there."

"I didn't think for a second that you wouldn't. Oh, and guess what else."

"What?"

"Rodgers finished the exam on Monique Bastock. She was killed with a potassium injection."

"So Tommy didn't kill her."

"Right. Alex and Bobby think it was Ashley."

"What about Elka?"

"She's supposedly out of the country. They're trying to run her down via paper trail now."

I could hear laughter in the background.

"Where are you?" I asked her.

"Hang on a sec," she said. Then I could hear her speak to someone else.

"Jestem żonaty. Przepraszam." She laughed for a minute and then she came back on. "Sorry about that."

"You're back at the tattoo parlor, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I thought it was worth a shot to see if maybe those other girls come back."

"Good idea. But no ink for you."

"No?"

"I don't want anything marking up that beautiful skin."

"So you're telling me I _can't_?" Carolyn is such a challenge. And I love that. It definitely keeps me on my toes. I laughed.

"I wouldn't dream of it, sweetheart."

By the end of the work day, my headache was gone along with my resolve to avoid liquor. I met up with Carolyn, Goren and Eames at our usual hangout.

I slid into the booth next to Carolyn, across from Eames.

"So, get me up to speed," I said after we ordered drinks and dinner. "Aside from the fact that you hooked my wife up for a booty call with a perp."

"Hey, I'm going to be at that booty call, too," Eames replied.

"Yeah, but…"

"Elka Markinson a.k.a. Elka Adamoski," Goren said, putting a stop to my friendly bickering with Eames. "She was a professor at NYU until a year ago. She came over from Poland almost five years ago. Ashley Moser had her for a class last year, so we're guessing that's where they met."

"And she slept with her professor. Eames, you and Ashley have a lot in common, don't you?" I just couldn't resist the tease. She pulled the orange slice from her beer glass and threw it at me.

"Do I need to separate you two?" Goren asked, waggling his finger at me and Eames.

"Behave, Mike," Carolyn told me, chucking me in the side. At the same time, Eames kicked me under the table.

"So this Elka woman. What does she do now?"

"We're not sure. But at NYU she was professor of sociology."

"Great. So she was teaching impressionable students about sexual diversity, gender discrimination, and 'in-groups' while she's doing the hokey-pokey with an undergrad."

"Mike, you know about the teaching methods of sociology?" Eames asked.

"Hey, don't be so surprised. I took sociology in school."

"And you paid attention?"

"Well, the teacher was a total babe," I admitted with a grin.

"But," Carolyn said loudly to get our attention again. "She's gone off the employment radar since she left NYU."

"How do we know she's involved in this? I mean, for sure?" I asked.

"Well, this is where it gets good," Goren said. "The account number that Ashley gave Alex for the ninety grand…it traces back to Elka."

"She had an account with her name on it?"

"Well, not exactly," Eames said. "It was a numbered account. But we were able to gain access to the Bahamian bank records."

"The Bahamas? That's a rookie mistake," I commented. "Most people hide their money in the Caymans."

"We're pretty sure she's got some accounts there as well. Her account in the Bahamas showed records of transfers back and forth, but of course, they're pretty tight-lipped about the whole thing in the Cayman Islands."

"So why would Ashley give you a traceable account if there were others that were…less traceable?"

"I think you're right. It was a rookie mistake," Goren said. "These people didn't have any money up until a year ago. Elka came to America with very little. Sherman and his wife were living paycheck to paycheck and trying to save money to send Ashley to school. Tommy is a struggling amateur fighter. None of them had much. And now suddenly they're rolling in it. Their only thought was to spread it around and use numbered accounts. I'm betting they didn't realize how easy it is to track it down in some countries."

"So what's the deal with Sherman's wife?"

"We think she's an innocent bystander. Nothing about her ties into any of the twisted stuff her daughter and husband are doing."

"Okay, so Elka met Ashley. And what? The two of them hatched this plan?"

Goren and Eames both nodded.

"Maybe Elka had older friends who were interested in hooking up with the younger girls. Ashley was able to bring her friends into it. And then it expanded from there. Until for some reason, American girls weren't enough and then they brought Sherman into it so that they could have his access to girls who were susceptible to threats."

"And Tommy?"

"We haven't found a connection for him prior to this venture. Obviously he's the muscle, but how he got involved, we don't know yet."

"Tomorrow's going to be a fun night, isn't it?" I asked, taking another drink. "There's never a dull moment with you two around, is there?"

"We may start being around even more," Eames said.

"Why is that?" I asked. "Not that I mind, but what's up?"

The two of them looked at each other. And looked some more. I turned to Carolyn and she just shrugged.

"I've never known two people who liked to look at each other more than you guys," I said when they still didn't turn away from each other.

And then I noticed the slight nod, combined with an eyebrow raise and a tilt of the head.

"You're having a whole damn conversation, aren't you? Okay, these are the rules. If you're going to start working with us, you have to speak in actual words. Complete sentences even."

"We're getting married," Eames said, finally turning to me.

"You're what? Really?"

"That's great!" Carolyn said. "Have you told Ross?"

"We just decided this morning. But we're going to ride it out. When he asks, we'll tell him. And then he'll assign us new partners, and then we'll quit…"

"So you've got it all worked out," I said, unable to keep from smiling.

"How long do you think it'll be before he asks?" Carolyn asked.

"Especially with you still wearing that ring," I added, nodding my head towards the very noticeable diamond.

"He won't ask while we're on this case. He knows we'll claim it's because of the cover."

"But Liz knows," Eames added.

"Rodgers? Did you tell her?"

"She saw the ring when we were down in the morgue this morning."

"She asked about it?"

"She said it was a nice rock," Eames said with a smile. "And she looked very...triumphant about it. But she won't tell Ross. Not until we do."

"Well, I'm not starting work with Carolyn until Monday. Anyone want to take a bet that you guys beat me there?"

TBC...


	19. Chapter 19

Bobby POV

* * *

From across the room, I saw Ashley talking with Alex. They were standing close, like two people who had intimate knowledge of each other, and I tamped down the feelings of jealousy. _She's working_, I reminded myself.

Standing slightly apart from them were Carolyn and Elka. They were speaking intently, ignoring the rest of the room.

I was bored out of my mind, surrounded by a bunch of cops pretending to be rich Swiss.

Tommy was late bringing the girls, so right now the party was mostly a group of men watching the four most attractive women in the room, who in turn were only into each other. _This is messed up._

I sipped my drink and kept an eye on Alex. I was nervous and afraid, feelings that were foreign to me. Well, not completely, but when combined with the feeling of helplessness, let's say the fear was brought to a new level. Because now we were pretty sure that Ashley was a killer. And she did it with a syringe filled with potassium. One jab to the midsection, and Alex would go into cardiac arrest within minutes. There would be no reversing it.

So I sipped my drink, wishing desperately that it were something stronger than club soda, and watched as Ashley gratuitously raked her hands all over Alex's body. And then I saw Carolyn look at them with concern.

She looked at me and time slowed to a crawl.

"Bobby!" Carolyn shouted as she shoved Elka into the wall with one hand and reached for her gun with the other. But she wasn't packing. She couldn't get away with wearing one when she was dressed in a form fitting sheath of black silk.

As this was happening, Ashley grabbed Alex around the neck and pulled her back up against her. She held a hypodermic against her throat.

"Alex!" I forced my way through the crowd, but I couldn't get to her. And the other cops in the room were all paralyzed, each one afraid that a move would get Alex killed. But I couldn't wait.

"Alex!" I cried again. She looked at me calmly. Was that resignation I saw on her face? Acceptance?

"I love you, Bobby," she mouthed to me.

Ashley's arm tensed as her finger slid the plunger home.

"No! Alex!"

"Bobby!"

Alex's sharp tone finally brought me out of my nightmare. I was breathing heavily and a cold sweat covered my body.

"Bobby, it's okay," she said softly, realizing that I was awake. "It was just a dream."

"No, it was…"

"A dream," she insisted.

"The worst kind of nightmare," I countered.

I took a moment for me to absorb my surroundings. Alex was sitting up in the bed and had pulled my head into her lap. She ran her fingers through my sweat-dampened hair, waiting patiently for me to pull myself together.

Eventually, I got my breathing under control, but I didn't move from her embrace. The images in my head were still too real.

Through the window, the first rays of sunlight were breaking across the horizon. It was Wednesday.

"I don't think I can do this tonight."

"Is that what the dream was about?"

I turned my face into her thigh and kissed her there, not ready to talk yet. She didn't push me.

"Mollie's going to love her present," she said quietly, her fingers working around to stroke the side of my face.

"You think?"

"I do. And she's going to love that you remembered her birthday. You're a thoughtful man."

"Thanks for helping me."

"You don't ever have to thank me for that."

"I don't know how to protect you from her," I said without moving, my lips brushing against her thigh as I spoke.

"From Ashley?" she asked. And I loved her for not being mad. Mad that I wanted to protect her.

"If we're right, and she's the one who injected Monique, then it's a very real danger that she could do it again. And it would only take a second and we might not even realize it was happening and then…"

I couldn't even finish the words. The nightmare was still too vivid. Poison just flat out scared me. Guns didn't stand a chance against a quick hypodermic needle.

"Bobby," she whispered softly, pulling me tighter against her. "It's going to be okay. I'll be careful."

"How? How can we be sure? You're going to have to let her be close to you to finish out the operation. She's going to be touching you."

"And I'm going to be touching her," she reminded me. I wasn't sure what she meant by that at first, but then I got it.

"You're going to feel her up?" I asked. It sounded ridiculous, but…

"There's only so many places a woman can hide a weapon, and believe me, I know them all."

I found myself relaxing slightly. And then I felt bad.

"I'm sorry, Alex."

"Sorry?"

"For underestimating you. I should have known you would have the situation under control."

"Don't be sorry. I know how much a dream can get to a person. And you don't ever need to feel bad for being worried about me. If you're going to do it, now's the time, when we're still Bobby and Alex."

"You're right."

"I have to admit, I'm a little apprehensive myself. There are going to be a lot of innocent victims there and a new suspect that we have very little knowledge on…it's going to be dangerous. But I trust in my abilities and I know you do too. And I trust in you to be able to back me up."

"Isn't that kind of like protecting you?" I asked, finally relaxing enough to tease.

But maybe I was too relaxed. In about two seconds flat, I found myself flipped onto my back with Alex sitting on my chest.

"I'm sorry, who protects who?" she asked with a smirk, her eyebrow arched in challenge.

"Whom," I corrected with a grin. "Who protects whom."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Am I supposed to be trying to get away? Because I don't know…I think this is a pretty good position to be in."

"Bobby," she whispered, leaning down close to me.

"Yeah?"

"Voglio scopare," she said smoothly. _Oh my God_. She had learned an Italian phrase. And not just any Italian phrase, but a very dirty one.

"Does your mother know you talk like that?" I asked, but I was filled with emotions that I couldn't even identify. The idea that she would even think to learn something in Italian was just blowing my mind.

"She doesn't speak Italian," she deadpanned.

"Can you say anything else?" I asked, curious to know the extent of her research.

"Do you want to talk or do you want to…_scopare_?"

"Voglio scopare," I agreed. "Definitely."

"Oh, and Bobby," she began as she kissed her way around my jaw and back to my ear.

"Hmm?"

"Sono pazzo di te."

I broke into a full grin. It was such an Alex phrase to pick. Surely there was a joke in there somewhere, but I couldn't think with her tongue in my ear.

"I'm crazy about you, too."

* * *

As much as I hated nightmares, I realized that having this one had actually helped. It got me to talk about my fears rather than hold them inside. And then Alex was able to rationally remind me of what I have always known. She's a good, smart cop and she knows what she's doing. And it's not that I ever doubt her abilities. It's just that sometimes my fear of having something happen to her makes me forget.

We got to 1PP shortly before eight. Ross was already in his office and the door was open.

"I don't care!" he shouted into the phone. "It's not the same thing."

Alex and I dropped our things on our desks and looked at each other. There were several other detectives in the room and they all seemed to be working hard at not listening. Or at least not looking like they were listening.

"It is not the same thing," Ross said again, slowly enunciating each word as though the listener were dense. I winced internally and said a silent word of thanks that it was not me he was speaking with.

"Liz?" Alex questioned quietly.

"I hope not." Married people shouldn't talk to each other like that. I mean, of course there are going to be fights, but that shouldn't include treating the other person like they were an idiot.

I found myself staring through the open door into his office, and I then I got caught. Ross turned around and realized I was looking. Then he walked over to his door and slammed it closed. _Ouch_.

"We need to find the connection to Tommy Booker," I said at last, forcing the Ross conversation out of my head.

"And Rodgers should have a better hold on the paternity test today, too."

"You want to talk to her first, don't you?"

"Well, it can't hurt."

We headed for the morgue. Rodgers had another body on the table, this one not ours.

"Detectives," she greeted. "A phone call probably would have done it."

"I…um…is this a burn?" I asked, suddenly fascinated with the corpse she was examining. "Like from a…a um…plasma cutter?"

"Yes," she said with a hint of surprise. "I believe so. I was just getting a closer look at that."

"Wow. Huh."

"Is this your case, too?"

"No. Sorry," I replied, shaking my head.

"We wanted to check on the paternity results," Alex said, smiling at my distraction. The morgue was a fascinating place and if I didn't like the psychological aspect of crime-solving so much, I would say that a job as a medical examiner would've been the next best thing.

"It's looking more and more likely that Sherman Moser was the father. I still won't be testifying to it yet, but it's a pretty safe bet."

"Okay. Okay, great," I replied as my mind wandered down that path. So Sherman had sex with Felcia at some point in September.

"I did learn something else interesting, though," she continued. "The lab checked with me this morning, just to confirm their results."

"On?"

"The bloody print on the guard rail where Adrianna Blazejewicz was killed."

"Okay…"

"The blood wasn't hers. In fact, it wasn't a _her_ at all."

"So the print and the blood are both from the killer," Alex said. "But you didn't find any evidence of skin or blood on the body?"

"No. No bruised knuckles, no skin under the nails…no evidence that whatever caused your killer to bleed came from the victim."

"But the killer is male," I confirmed. Rodgers nodded, and I looked to Alex.

"Tommy," she said. "He had no problem doing blow right in front of us. I wonder how big his habit is."

"Spontaneous nose bleed? Is there enough blood there to test for residue?" I asked Rodgers.

"For cocaine? I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks. Give us a call," Alex said as we headed for the door.

We both moved slowly, each of us wanting to ask Liz about the call with Ross just to make sure she was okay. But neither of us knew how to bring it up. We were so used to keeping the personal aspects of our lives away from the office.

"I will," Liz said. "Be careful tonight, Detectives."

"Always," Alex assured her. And since Liz had opened the door…

"Everything okay with you and the captain?" she asked. If Rodgers was surprised by the question, she didn't show it.

"Everything is fine."

"Okay. Good."

"He um…asked me my opinion about you two," she said on a sigh.

"Your opinion?"

"About whether or not I thought you were together."

"Oh," I answered. And I was glad that my reaction to that was neither fear nor distrust. I didn't believe that Liz would rat us out and I realized that I didn't care if Ross knew.

"And?" Alex asked.

"I told him that I was too busy to ponder over the personal lives of two of his detectives," she replied with a grin. "And then I told him that even if you were, it didn't matter. He and I hid our marriage until he basically extorted the chief with that photo, so he wasn't really one to judge."

Ahh…so that was what had gotten Ross going. I had no doubt that little reminder had completely pissed him off.

"You like to live dangerously, don't you?" Alex asked with a grin.

"I just say what I think. He's a little gruff sometimes, but there's a soft side to him, too."

I tried to mask my look of disbelief, but Rodgers saw it and laughed.

"I know. It's hard to believe. And if you ever tell him I said that, I'll deny it until my dying day."

"Your secret's safe with us," I promised as we slipped out the door.

"Where do you think Tommy gets his coke?" Alex asked me as we left the morgue.

"I don't know," I replied thoughtfully.

"Carolyn has an informant that was dealing to Daiya and Anya."

I started nodding before she even finished her sentence.

"Call her. She needs to go talk to him. See if he knows anything about Tommy Booker."

TBC...


	20. Chapter 20

**Logan POV**

* * *

My wife is a freakin' genius. She managed to get more information about Tommy Booker in ten minutes than the 'detailed' police report put together at MCS. Of course, I knew it wasn't Goren or Eames that had put the file together. Otherwise it would have been more complete. And I had no doubt that the detective who had done the research was going to be on the hot seat for his ineptitude.

It turned out that Tommy had an eight-ball a day habit. That told me that not only was he dangerous, but he was also stupid. He had also been disqualified twice from UFC fights due to his inability to pass a drug test. And now here comes the interesting part.

Jocelyn Moser, Sherman's wife, worked as a medical assistant for an office that conducted drug screens. On athletes. Further poking around taught us that she had conducted both of Tommy Booker's failed tests.

So now we had the link. We still figured that Jocelyn wasn't involved. She had likely made mention of the tests to Sherman during casual marital conversation. And while it was clearly a breach of confidentiality, it wasn't something we were going to throw the book at her over. But we were going to pick her up. We could use it as leverage.

But so if Jocelyn mentioned the failed drug tests to Sherman, and he was in need of an enforcer, what better guy for the job than a fighter who couldn't fight and had a three hundred dollar a day habit?

And having all of this information was just making me more antsy.

I was sitting in a hotel room with Ross, two beat cops in plain clothes, and three tech guys. The small ballroom downstairs was miked up, complete with audio and video feed. There were a couple dozen undercovers working the party, both men and women. There was probably more ammo in that room than at Hamburger Hill, but that didn't make me feel better. Carolyn was going to be there, cozying up to a woman whom we suspected was a cold-blooded killer.

"You don't move from that spot," Ross said to me as I shifted for the hundredth time.

"I hear you," I said, although we both knew that if things went to hell, I was going in.

"I'm serious. I don't want you blowing this bust."

"I hear you," I said again, this time carefully articulating each syllable. I turned back toward the video feed and watched as Goren and Eames entered the room followed closely by Carolyn. I glanced at my watch. Showtime in about twenty minutes.

"What's their deal?" Ross asked me with a nod toward the monitor. I looked up at him quickly, sure that I had misheard him, and then I glanced around the room to see who else was listening.

"What do you mean?" I asked warily.

"You guys are friends. You spend a lot of time with them."

"Yeah."

"Are they trying to pull one over on me?"

"Is that why you're so hard on him? You're afraid he's making you look like an idiot?"

Ross bristled and put his hands on his hips while he glared at me, but I wasn't going to back down. He opened this door, so I was going to go through it.

"Because I gotta say, if I were him, I would've quit a long time ago."

"You did," he replied harshly.

"I left for personal reasons. If he leaves, it'll be because of you."

"I don't treat him any different…"

"Oh please," I interrupted. "You talk to him like you can barely stand to waste your breath."

Ross didn't say anything, so I continued.

"He's a great detective, probably about the best you'll ever work with. And if you don't use that to your advantage, then you _are_ an idiot. You should be encouraging him, mentoring him, rather than trying to beat him down at every turn."

"Is that what he says I do?"

"He doesn't say anything bad about you. He's too good for that. Me…I don't know that I'd be so grown up about it."

"Well, don't hold back, Logan."

"You asked."

"What I asked was if those two are lying to me about their relationship."

"You'll have to ask them."

I turned back to the monitor in time to see Eames reach up to fix Goren's tie while giving him a huge smile. How's that for timing? They looked like an old married couple. Of course, I'd been thinking that for years, and yet they had only recently started dating. They just had that kind of connection and it wasn't about the sex.

"Huh," Ross grunted from behind me. I ignored him and settled my focus on Carolyn.

And then the doors opened and in came Tommy with five young women in tow.

* * *

**Carolyn POV**

Alex and I eased our way around to the side of the room. We weren't sure whether it would be Ashley or Tommy who showed first. We couldn't move on the bust until all of the involved parties were here, so I was hoping it would be Tommy.

I got my wish. A minute later, I watched Tommy come in the room and I checked out the girls he'd brought with him. Girls, without a doubt. The oldest one was probably sixteen and I had to wonder if after killing off four of their girls they'd had to start trolling high schools.

"Roberto," Tommy said, striding across the room to shake Bobby's hand. "It's good to see you again."

"You, too," Bobby said smoothly. "And who have we here?"

"Girls, come over here. This is Roberto. He is going to be your host this evening."

The girls flocked to Bobby's side. His face faltered for just a second before he slipped his mask back into place. I had no doubt that he was feeling ill. He spoke quietly to the girls, pointing out specific men that required their attention.

Alex and I wandered closer to where they stood. The girls were undoubtedly beautiful and they were made-up with class, but they were all glassy-eyed. We needed to move this along quickly.

"Girls," Tommy said. "Circulate. Be friendly."

Tommy looked in rough shape. His nose was running like a sieve and he was rubbing at it every few seconds. _Jonesing a little there, Tommy_?

"And who is this lovely lady?" Tommy asked, turning to me. The girls had moved around the room and were talking to the men that Bobby had indicated. Eventually, each of the men would leave the party with a girl, supposedly to head off for a hotel room, and then they would be taken into protective custody.

"Carrie Logan," I replied, holding out my hand. He kissed the back of it, but didn't let go.

"I was going to head back to Slattery's but I think I like the scenery here better. Roberto, you don't mind if I stay around do you?" he asked, never taking his eyes off of me.

"Please do."

"Care to talk a walk?" he asked me.

"Ashley and Elka should be here any minute," Alex said. _Thank you, Alex_.

"It's okay. I'll bring her back safe and sound."

With my hand still held tightly in his, we left the ballroom. I could only imagine that Mike was flipping out about now.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I thought you might want to, you know, powder your nose?"

"Oh, that's okay," I declined. He met me a minute ago and he's offering me coke?

"You sure, honey?" he asked as we rounded a corner that led to another long hall. There was no one in sight. Every nerve in my body was on alert.

"I think I'd better head back to the party," I said, pulling my hand from his. But I wasn't quick enough. He shoved me hard into the wall and grabbed my throat.

"You're Barek, aren't you?"

"What?" I rasped out. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're a fucking cop."

"I'm not a cop, I swear."

"Luka told me a cop was sniffing around asking questions about me. A good-looking cop named Barek. He described you."

My fucking informant. Wait until I got my hands on him.

"Maybe so, but it's not me." I was starting to get lightheaded from lack of oxygen and I was frantically trying to think of an out. This guy was freakishly strong.

"So you're not wired."

"No."

"You're not going to mind if I check for myself then."

I wasn't wired. We knew that Elka and Ashley were so hands-on that we hadn't wanted to risk it. And the room was miked to the hilt, but this hallway wasn't. I didn't know how long it would be before someone came looking for me. If Ashley had shown, then Alex would have her hands full.

"Check me out, tough guy," I challenged. "But you better make it count."

"Huh? Make it count?"

"When you let go of my throat, I'm going to kick your ass. You won't be feeling up anybody any time soon."

"You sure about that, sweetheart?" he laughed. _No, I'm not sure about that at all_. The blackness was closing in around the edges of my vision. If he held onto me for another thirty seconds, I was going to pass out.

"How about this? Let go of her now and I might not kill you."

It was Mike. I loved his voice in all kinds of situations, but never have I ever been happier to hear it than I was right now.

Tommy relaxed his grip slightly and turned to look down the hall. Mike was pointing his .45 at him and he clearly meant business. A little more oxygen began making its way to my brain and I closed my eyes in relief.

"You should listen to him," I said, opening my eyes again.

"He's not going to shoot me with you this close."

"I'm not that close."

"What?" he asked as I brought my knee up as hard as I could, catching him square in the crotch. He let me go and staggered backwards, hunching over in pain. I somehow managed to stay on my feet as Mike pounced on Tommy, shoving him to the ground and jamming the gun against the back of his head.

"See? Not that close," I repeated, leaning down near his head.

Within seconds, Ross came hustling down the hall.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," I replied, forcing my voice to be strong. Ross whirled on Mike.

"Dammit Logan, I told you to stay in the room!"

"So your men could protect her? I don't think so," he snarled. He stood up and let Ross take over handcuffing Tommy. A plain clothes cop came around the corner and he and Ross took Tommy away. We needed to get him out quietly so as not to scare away Ashley and Elka.

"Protect me?" I asked him once we were alone in the hall. He ran his hand across my neck gently before pulling me into his arms.

"Bad choice of words."

"No, you were right. He caught me by surprise. How did you know?"

"I didn't, but I didn't like that you left with him. I came down here looking for you just so I could keep an eye on you. Of course, Ross tried to stop me."

"Well, that was pretty reckless. What if Ashley had seen you?"

"Then we would've been screwed. But I had to risk it," he said, still holding me tightly.

"I'm glad you did."

"Well, it does my ego good to be able to rescue you once in a while."

"Rescue? Is that the word you're going to use now?"

"Save? Liberate?"

"How about back-up? As in partner?"

"That works for me," he sighed. He took a deep breath and then let me go.

"They picked up Slattery about ten minutes ago."

"Yeah? Good. So we've got two more to get."

"Are you going to be able to finish this? How'd he make you?"

"Luka."

"Your dealer informant?"

"Yeah. I never told him I quit the department."

"I'll have him picked up. Or better yet, when we're done here, me and Goren will go pick him up."

We got to the corner of the hall and I knew I had to go the rest of the way by myself. Mike had to go back to the room. I grabbed him and kissed him, taking more time than I meant to just because the whole situation had really shaken me up. I needed him to ground me once again, and as usual, he filled his role perfectly.

"Better?" he asked when I pulled away. I nodded.

"Does this look too bad?" I asked, gesturing toward my neck. It was sore and a little red.

"No. Just tell them Alexa got a little rough with you last night," he said with a wink. I rolled my eyes, but had to smile.

"Go get 'em, babe," he said, giving me one more quick kiss before backtracking down the hall. I took a deep breath and turned the corner.

It was time to take out Elka and Ashley.

TBC...


	21. Chapter 21

**Alex POV**

* * *

Carolyn had been gone too long for my comfort, but as soon as I started to go look for her, Ashley and Elka came in the room.

I thought I was mentally prepared for another night of relentless groping, but I guess one can never prepare quite enough.

Ashley caught me with a hello kiss that caused the men in the room to let out a collective gasp. _Great_. I was going to have to bribe the tech guy to keep him from producing stills of this footage.

I managed, _barely_, to keep her tongue out of my mouth during this enthusiastic greeting, and when I was finally able to pull away from her, she picked up my hand and laced her fingers through mine.

"Alexa, meet Elka," she said as though she were showing off a prize. She kept holding onto my hand, staking her claim on me, so I just nodded and said hello.

"Where is Carrie?" Ashley asked. "Elka is anxious to meet her."

I gave Elka a good once-over and was pleased to see that Bobby and I had guessed correctly. She was very similar in looks and body-type to Carolyn, and she was roughly the same age. Ashley was used to deferring to her and so when Carolyn approached us on the sidewalk the other night, it had been natural for Ashley to back off and let us leave without a fuss.

"She went to the little girls' room," I replied. "She'll be back any minute." I hoped. I was really starting to get worried. I looked around the room to catch Bobby's eye.

_Where's Carolyn?_

_I have no idea, but I'm on it._

Bobby took a few steps toward the door, but that was when Carolyn came back into the ballroom. She looked slightly shaken. Well, _I_ thought she looked that way, but she was holding herself together nicely in a manner that would deceive anyone else.

I wanted to know what had happened with Tommy, but with Ashley plastered to my side, it would have to wait. For now, all I knew was the she had left with him and come back alone. That had to be a good sign.

"Carrie! There you are," I called out, waving her over to our little corner of the ballroom. She smiled and headed in our direction.

"Ashley, you were right," Elka whispered.

"I knew you'd like her." Ashley had the sound of someone trying to impress, like a child wanting to make their parent proud. I had no doubt Elka was the one holding the reins in this operation. Now we just had to get her to admit to it.

The party was in full swing. The girls were still mingling with the undercovers, but as soon as we could get Elka to acknowledge that she knew what was going on, we could start sending them out. Once the room was cleared of civilians, then we would arrest them both. I was anxious for that moment to arrive.

"Elka, meet Carrie Logan," Ashley said when Carolyn approached. I noticed some angry red marks marring her neck. Carolyn saw me look and gave me a barely detectable nod. _I'm okay_, it said.

"It's a pleasure," Carolyn said, holding out her hand.

"The pleasure is all mine," Elka replied smoothly. And then she leaned in close to Carolyn and added, "But I'll be sure to please you later on."

"Honey, what happened to your throat?" Ashley asked her. Carolyn looked back at me and gave me a secretive smile.

"Alexa got a little over-zealous last night in our experimentation," she said easily. And then she leaned in to mock-whisper. "Erotic asphyxiation."

"Oh," Elka replied with a smile. "Well, it happens. A _good_ lover would just be a little more careful," she added with an admonishing look at me. _Oh, let's just please get on with this._

"Alexa, this is a lovely party," Carolyn said, deftly disregarding Elka's remark.

"Thank you. It's all Roberto's doing. And of course, Ashley helped."

"Oh? How so?"

"All of these girls. They're her friends," I told her, hoping that by giving Ashley all of the credit that Elka might speak up.

"Really? Wow. And those are some beautiful girls. I'm sure Roberto's clients will be…very agreeable," she said on a laugh. It was tough to joke about such a thing, but Carolyn's acting was top notch.

As we stood and chatted with our new girlfriends, I kept my arm around Ashley, casually running my hand up and down along her side. She seemed to enjoy the attention, and it gave me a good feeling about the fact that she was lacking a weapon.

"We should get out of here for a little bit," she whispered into my ear.

"I don't know if I should leave just yet," I said back. "Roberto might need me."

"There are plenty of women here to keep him company. Come on, you know you want to," she replied huskily. Yeah. About as much as I wanted a root canal.

But then a buzzing sound came from her purse.

"Oh, I'd better get that. I've been waiting for a call from Daddy."

"Sure," I said, easing away from her a bit.

I wasn't crazy about the fact that she had a purse. I hadn't had the opportunity yet to search it. I mean, it was small, but how big did it need to be to hold a needle? The only good thing was that if she had to reach in her purse for a weapon, then it would give us all time to react. And Bobby was packing. I had no doubt whatsoever that despite playing up his part perfectly, he was also keeping a close eye on me.

I watched Ashley as she reached in her purse and pulled out her phone. She didn't answer it, but instead just looked at it. Apparently it was a text and not a call.

And of course, I knew it wasn't Sherman since he was actually in a holding cell at 1PP. Orders had been given to keep him from making his one phone call until we gave the word.

Ashley's face fell a bit as she read the text and my mind raced. It's not Sherman. It's not Tommy. Who else would it be? Who would be giving her disturbing news? We didn't know any other players in this thing. We hadn't seen her with any other friends. And Elka didn't have a purse or anything, so there was no way she had surreptitiously sent a message. Besides, she was far too into Carolyn to have bothered.

"Everything okay?" I asked. She didn't type a text reply, but was instead slowly putting the phone back into her purse. She looked up at me with a confused expression, but then she shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I'm fine. I just got some bad news from home."

_Home? Jocelyn_?

"Anything I can do?"

"No, it's okay. My…um…my grandmother is sick. My mom is taking her to the hospital."

"I'm sorry. Maybe we should do this another time." Of course, there wasn't going to be another time. Ashley wasn't going to be leaving this hotel in anything other than a cop car.

"No, really. I'm fine," she assured me, putting her arm back around my waist and hugging me tight up against her. "It's all just fine."

* * *

**Bobby POV**

I was having some serious flashbacks. My dream last night had just been too real. I was trying to keep a cool head and remind myself that everything was under control, but on the inside I was sweating bullets.

From across the room, I saw Ashley talking with Alex. They were standing close, like two people who had intimate knowledge of each other. Only this time I didn't have to tamp down feelings of jealousy. I knew she was working. And I knew there was nothing to be jealous about.

Standing slightly apart from them were Carolyn and Elka. They were speaking intently, ignoring the rest of the room.

As in my dream, I was surrounded by a bunch of cops pretending to be rich Swiss, but this time the girls were there as well. Tommy hadn't been late. And while I wasn't completely sure, I had a feeling that Carolyn had managed to neutralize him. I smiled a little at that thought. Somehow I knew she would find a way to go up against him after Alex had warned her about his fighting skills. And clearly she had come out ahead since she was here and he was not.

So I sipped my drink. Club soda. And I pretended to be deep in conversation while I watched as Alex was manhandled by Ashley.

Then I looked at Carolyn. One second she was talking to Elka, and the next she was whipping her head toward Alex. _What the hell_?

And then Carolyn turned quickly to me.

"Bobby!" Carolyn shouted as she shoved Elka into the wall with one hand and with her other hand, she instinctively reached for a gun that wasn't there.

As this was going on, Ashley grabbed Alex around the neck and pulled her back up against her. She held a hypodermic against her throat.

_Oh my God, this was not happening. _

But this was real. I was awake. And it _was_ happening.

"Eames!" I forced my way through the crowd, and this time I could move. I could get close. I stopped about ten feet away from her with my gun drawn. The other cops in the room were either hustling the girls out the doors, or lined up near me with their weapons pointed at Ashley. Carolyn still had Elka pinned up against the wall, and she wasn't putting up a fight.

"Eames!" I cried again as I levered my weapon at Ashley.

She looked at me calmly. Was that resignation I saw on her face? Acceptance?

No. Definitely not. It was irritation that she'd let Ashley get so close. It was confidence in my ability to make this right.

It was determination.

"You come another step closer, and I'll kill her. I swear I will. You need to put your guns down and let us go."

"You know I can't do that," I replied coolly.

"I can kill her right now. You can't stop me," she threatened, her finger on the end of the plunger. My heart was slamming in my chest. It was making so much noise that it was hard for me to hear anything else.

I pointed my gun at Ashley's head, but she was so close to Alex that I was afraid to pull the trigger. _What if my aim was off_?

I looked at Alex and she stared straight into my eyes.

"Do it," she mouthed to me.

And I did.

Before I could doubt my abilities, I pulled the trigger.

The shot echoed throughout the now nearly-empty ballroom.

And Ashley and Alex both went down to the ground.

TBC...


	22. Chapter 22

Bobby POV

_

* * *

_

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God...

The words were on continuous loop in my brain as I made the infinite journey from where I stood to where Alex had fallen.

If I had hurt her, then my life was over.

I would never recover.

"Are you shot? Did I hit you?" I asked as I fell to my knees.

"Of course not," she replied, seemingly surprised that I would even consider such a thing. "But Bobby, be careful," she said.

She wanted _me_ to be careful?

And then I saw what she meant. The needle was sticking in her neck. And as the sick panic overtook me, welling up inside of me until my head felt ready to explode, I realized at last that the plunger was still out.

She had been stabbed with the needle, but not injected with the poison.

I let my eyes wander over to Ashley and discovered that my shot had indeed hit its mark. Her head was a splattered mess of blood and brain matter. She lay lifeless next to Alex, her hand still loosely grasping the hypodermic.

"You killed her! You fucking bastard!" Elka shouted. I ignored her and instead shouted for one of the officers to bring the paramedics. I was too afraid to touch the needle myself, although I desperately wanted it out of her neck.

There was a brief scuffle as Elka made a lunge for us. I used my body to cover Alex, tensing my muscles so that I could absorb any blow she could make, but nothing happened. I looked up and saw Elka laid out flat on the floor with Carolyn on top of her.

"Don't try that shit again," Carolyn told her, wrenching her arms behind her back.

"Cuffs!" she called out roughly, and in a matter of seconds, there was a pair of cuffs in her hand which she promptly slapped on Elka's wrists. I continued to protect Alex from any jostling and waited for the paramedics. The seconds were passing like days.

"You can't arrest me! You don't have anything on me," Elka insisted.

The doors to the ballroom slammed open. Logan and Ross came in.

"Where's the damn EMT's?" I shouted.

"On the way."

"Have you forgotten already what you just told me a few minutes ago?" Carolyn asked Elka as she pulled her to her feet. Elka paled slightly.

"You're wired?" Elka shrieked. "You're fucking wired?"

"The whole room is wired, sweetheart. We got it in full stereo," Logan told Elka.

"Is Eames okay?" Ross asked me.

"She will be as soon as we get this damn needle out of her neck."

"Elka Adamoski, you are under arrest," Ross said, taking custody of the woman. "You have the right to remain silent."

"Listen to him, sweetheart," Logan told her. "And next time, don't try so hard to get a woman into your bed. Especially my woman," he added with a grin.

EMT's burst into the room and came rushing over to us.

"It's about damn time," I groused.

"Let them do their job, Bobby," Alex told me. But I could tell she was still pretty freaked out about the needle. She had broken out into a sweat and her breathing rate was increased.

_Oh God, I hope that's just from being scared_.

One of the paramedics pulled out the needle slowly and carefully.

"None went in, right?" I asked anxiously. "None of the potassium?"

"Is that what this is?" the paramedic asked.

"We think so."

"Ma'am, try to relax, okay? I'm going to check your heartrate."

"I can tell you. It's beating like crazy," she told him with a wry smile.

"Be still and let him listen," I told her. Of course, my heart was pounding, too. And I was sweating.

I took the hypodermic from the paramedic while he put his stethoscope to his ears. The plunger was only slightly in and the liquid still filled the syringe. Of course, there were other concerns now as well. Was the needle clean?

"I'd like to take you in and have some blood tests run just to be on the safe side."

"I'm fine," Alex insisted. The paramedics moved back and she was able to sit up. The right side of her face and hair was splattered with blood and gray matter. She started to reach her hand up to feel the gooey mess, but I grabbed it and held it instead. She didn't need to be touching that. I scooted her away from the body a little bit.

"You scared me to death," I told her.

"I knew you wouldn't miss," she told me confidently.

"You should go with them to the hospital."

"Listen to your partner," Ross said, coming back into the room after having pawned Elka off on some other officers. "Elka is on her way to 1PP to join Tommy and Sherman. They'll wait."

With the immediate medical crisis past, Carolyn and Mike came over to us, too.

"You okay, Alex?" Carolyn asked. She nodded, and I noticed that her breathing was slowing down a bit.

"What the hell happened?" Mike asked.

"She got a text. She said it was her mom and that her grandmother was sick."

"Let's find out," Carolyn said, kneeling down to retrieve Ashley's purse. She pulled out the cell phone and looked at the text.

"It's a set up. They're all cops," she read.

"What the hell?" I asked. I stood up quickly and glared at Ross. "Who sent that text?" I asked Carolyn. "What number?"

"It's listed as 'Daddy'."

"Somebody gave Sherman his phone call? Before we gave the go-ahead? She could have been killed," I said heatedly.

"I'll get to the bottom of this," he replied. "You have my word." And I actually believed him. He looked really pissed, and for once it wasn't at me.

Ross turned to leave, but then walked back to me.

"I need your gun, Detective," he said. He held his hand out to me and it took me a second to realize that I still held my gun in my hand. I handed it over quickly and then helped Alex to her feet. She stood for a moment on shaky legs before she reached over and grabbed my arm.

"You okay?"

"I just feel a little…weird. I don't know," she replied. She looked pale, and I looked at the syringe in my hand again just to get yet another visual confirmation that the poison was still there.

"We're going to the hospital."

"No. Take me to Liz."

"Captain!" I called out as he was walking through the doors. "Is Rodgers at work?"

"Always."

"I'm going to take Eames to her to get checked out. Don't start without me."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he muttered as he walked away.

"Nice tackle, by the way," I told Carolyn as we walked out of the ballroom. I was grateful to her for keeping Elka from causing any more damage.

I had one arm tightly wrapped around Alex. It bothered me that she was letting me help her so much, especially when several of our colleagues were still around, but I still thought that we were past the worst. I was wrong.

"Thanks," Carolyn said, keeping a worried eye on Alex as well. Logan led the way down the hall and out to the car.

"You're not driving," I told Alex.

"Fine, but neither are you. I want to get to the morgue in one piece," she grumbled. _Keep making jokes_, I thought. At least it was a sign she was feeling a little better.

"I'm driving," Logan said, taking the keys from my hand.

I got Alex into the backseat and she leaned fully against me, resting her head on my shoulder. I noticed she was taking calculated breaths.

"What are you feeling?" I asked her quietly as Logan sped down the road. He had the lights on and sirens flashing.

"Dizzy. Weak. And my heart feels out of rhythm."

"Logan," I said sharply, wanting him to go faster.

"I'm on it," he replied, mashing his foot down on the gas pedal.

"We should've taken you to the damn hospital."

"I'll be fine."

"Yeah, well you'd better be."

"Or what?" she asked weakly.

"I don't even want to think about it."

"I'll let Liz know we're on the way. Five more minutes," Carolyn said.

The needle was in a bag in my pocket. I wanted Rodgers to be able to test the substance to confirm its identity. I was afraid that even a small bit of whatever it was had entered Alex's bloodstream. And some poisons only took a small bit to kill.

Logan squealed on two wheels up to the front of the building.

I scooped Alex up and ran inside. She had lost consciousness.

* * *

**Alex POV------**

The car ride felt surreal. I could hear Bobby talking to me. I could feel his strong heartbeat under my hand. I could smell his cologne, mixed with sweat and fear.

But it was like I wasn't really participating.

_This is what it feels like to be dead._

The last thing I remember was the jerk of the car as Logan took a corner too fast.

And then nothing but blissful darkness...

"Alex."

"Alex."

"Come on, Eames."

_Shut up and let me sleep._

"Open your eyes, Detective."

That was Rodgers. And I panicked for a second. Because if Rodgers was examining me, then I was dead. Right?

No, wait. I had asked for Liz.

"Alex." That was Bobby. "Open your eyes, honey."

_Don't call me honey in front of Liz! We can't let anyone know. We can't…_

"Alex!" It was Bobby again, but now he was sounding upset. I needed to open my eyes.

So I did.

I was lying flat on my back on Rodgers' table. Now that was something I didn't need to experience.

I had an oxygen cannula in my nose. Directly overhead was a large round light. And Bobby. His face was looming over my field of vision, his face filled with concern.

"Hi," I said roughly. He smiled beautifully at me.

"Welcome back." That was Logan. I couldn't see him, but I heard the relief in his voice.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again," Bobby whispered, leaning down to kiss my check.

"Are you ready to sit up?" Rodgers asked. I took stock of myself. My heartbeat felt normal. I was breathing normal.

"Okay," I agreed. I pulled the tubing out of my nose and set it aside.

Bobby helped me into a sitting position, and while the world tilted for a moment, it suddenly set itself right again.

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

"You had a little bit of the potassium in your system. It caused a drastic drop in your blood pressure and you had some difficulty breathing. You passed out."

"It'll pass?"

"It seems to already have. The effects were minor. The syringe was very nearly full so the amount you received was negligible. If she'd had another second to push harder on the plunger, you'd be on my table for real right now."

I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. And then I got up from the table. I didn't want to be back on there any time soon. I stood uncertainly, but once again Bobby held on tight.

"How long was I out?"

"Too long," Bobby replied, brushing my hair out of my face.

"About ten minutes. We got you cleaned up as best as we could. And I drew some blood. We'll have the results of the rapid HIV test shortly."

"She had the needle in her hand," I said, flashing back to the ballroom. "I didn't realize it at first. I was trying to be so careful to make sure she didn't reach into her purse again, but she had it in her hand already. She must have grabbed it when she put her phone away."

"It's all over now," Bobby said soothingly. "We got them all."

"What happened with Tommy?" I asked Carolyn, remembering the bruising on her neck. "Did you kick his ass?"

"Well, I…" Carolyn began.

"Of course she did," Logan interrupted, slinging his arm across her shoulders. "Did you have any doubt?"

"No," I admitted with a smile.

And slowly, I began to feel like myself again.

"Ross has Tommy, Sherman and Elka each in separate interrogation rooms. He's waiting on word from us as to whether or not we're coming in tonight to talk to them," Bobby told me.

"Oh, we're going in," I replied. "And I want to talk to the cop who let Sherman have his phone call."

"And a quick side trip through Brooklyn is in order," Logan added. "We have one more arrest to make."

TBC...


	23. Chapter 23

**Carolyn POV**

* * *

Alex had managed to take ten years off of my life. When she passed out in the car, I thought she was going to die.

And if she died, then Bobby would be as good as dead.

And if Mike lost his two best friends, then he would never be the same again either.

It blew my mind a little how intricately we had all become involved.

It didn't used to be that way. Mike hadn't really ever cared for anyone but himself. And truth be told, he wasn't that big a fan of himself either.

Bobby had been through one horrible life crisis after another until he was left so stunted that it was a miracle he had ever found his way out. I had doubts that anyone but Alex would've ever been able to reach him. But she was exactly what he needed, and while most people believed that she was his saving grace, I knew it went both ways.

Alex hadn't had an easy life either. Not in the same way as Mike and Bobby. They'd gone through hell during their childhoods. Alex had lived a fairly normal life growing up. But she'd chosen a hard road, married a man more for the sake of getting married than for love, and then she'd been widowed at an early age.

She needed Bobby every damn bit as bad as he needed her.

And where did I fit into this mess? For the first time in my life, I fit right smack in the middle.

I had always been an outsider, a loner. I had many friends throughout life, but no one who really knew me. No one ever got me. I was always the weird one who liked to read too much and talk too little. Unless I was talking to myself.

But Mike got me. He knocked down every wall I put up.

And then a few months ago when we met back up with Alex and Bobby, everything just clicked. And I wouldn't trade our friendship for anything.

So if Alex had died, well…I just can't even think about it.

But I'm thinking about going back to church. And maybe I'll take Mike with me. We have a lot to be thankful for.

We left the morgue with Alex walking under her own power. It was great to see.

"Who's in Brooklyn?" she asked as we got to the SUV that Mike had so gracefully parked half-on and half-off the sidewalk.

"Luka Milofsky."

"And he is…" Bobby asked.

"A rat informant who's about to get a beatdown," Mike said heatedly. He pulled the keys from his pocket and lifted them away from Alex's outstretched hand.

"Uh uh," he told her. "Another rule. No driving within twenty-four hours of making us think you were going to die."

"I don't think I like all of your rules," she replied. But she climbed in the back seat. "Maybe we won't work with you guys. We've already got one jackass boss now. Why switch it up?"

Mike barked out a laugh and started the car.

"You get to make rules, too. That's the beauty of it. We're _all_ the boss."

"Hang on now," I said, getting into the teasing. "I thought I was the boss."

That brought on a whole onslaught of discord and we actually laughed all the way to Brooklyn. It was that euphoric feeling that comes on after a near-tragedy. The body has to balance itself out.

But we settled down as we approached the darkened streets of Luka's favorite hangout.

"How do you want to do this?" Bobby asked. He was looking at Mike.

"_I'm_ going to do this," I told him.

"What?"

"You already had to rescue me from Tommy. I'm going to fight my own battle now."

"Logan had to rescue you? What happened?" Alex asked quickly.

"You didn't have to tell them that," Mike said to me. I appreciated that he wanted to save me from what he perceived as my embarrassment of having to have a man come to my aid. It wasn't that. I was pissed at myself, but I recognized that there were plenty of times where a little help was necessary. There was no shame in that.

"Tommy got the drop on me in the hallway," I admitted. "I thought he took me out there to hit on me, and maybe do some lines. But Luka had told Tommy that I was asking around about him and he'd described me. So I got made."

"He was choking you," Alex stated, referring to my bruised throat.

"Yeah, but Mike came down the hall and held a gun on him."

"And then she kneed him in the stones and he dropped like a rock."

"And Mike tackled him."

"So it was a group effort," Bobby said.

"Yeah. But this one's on me. All I need you for," I said with a nod at Bobby. "Is to come in when I'm done and put the cuffs on him."

"No problem."

Mike pouted for a minute, so I ended up letting him get out of the car with me. Of course, Bobby and Alex got out, too.

"Don't touch him. That's my job."

"Yes ma'am."

We wandered around the alleyway until I found him. When he saw me coming, he started to run, but Bobby and Alex had walked into the alley from the other end, blocking his escape.

"What the fuck is this?" he asked in a frightened voice.

"Judgment day," Mike said.

"I didn't say nothing to nobody," Luka insisted. "I always give you information when I got it."

"Yeah, and you gave Tommy Booker information, too, didn't you?" I asked. "You told him a cop was asking about him?"

"No," he lied. And he was a bad liar.

"Sure you did. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known about me," I said, pushing him backwards. He stumbled and then fell into the brick wall. "You almost got me killed."

"He made me tell!"

"He made you tell him. Now that just doesn't make any sense. How would he have known to ask?"

"He…um…"

"You wanted to impress him. Maybe you owed him some money, or drugs. And you gave me up to save your own ass. Does that sound about right?"

"I'm sorry," he cried. And he was so pathetic that I almost felt sorry for him. Of course, Mike didn't.

"You think we're going to feel sorry for you? You almost got her killed," he said carefully, his voice laced with venom. "And then I would've had to kill you and then I would've gone to prison…the whole thing gets messy."

"I'm really sorry! I won't ever do it again."

"You can't put the damn genie back in the bottle, genius," Alex piped in. "You're no longer of any use as an informant."

"I've got something I can give you. I know something," he said quickly.

"What?" Bobby asked skeptically.

"There's two cops here that are dirty. I've seen 'em. They come and rough me up sometimes and they take my drugs."

"We're going to take the word of a rat drug dealer about two cops," Mike said, grabbing Luka by the shirt. I hadn't wanted to actually grab him because he was filthy, so I was glad that Mike had.

"Give me names," I said. I had a feeling I knew the answer.

"Taggart," he said. "And Woody."

I looked at Bobby and gave him a huge grin. This was going to be good.

"Come on, Luka. We're going for a ride."

* * *

**Logan POV**

I was back in 1PP. I felt like I'd spent more time in here lately than I did when I worked here. Ross had allowed me and Carolyn into the observation rooms so that we could watch the magic.

Goren and Eames were going to go in with Sherman first, but they hadn't entered the room yet. I looked at Ross.

"What happened with that phone call?" I asked him. I wasn't going to let that go.

"He's fired," he told me.

"Just like that?"

"Gross incompetence. It's clear grounds for dismissal."

"The chief probably doesn't like things like that," I said casually, trying to provoke a response.

"He'll get over it."

Hmmm…there may be hope for Ross yet.

My attention was brought to the interrogation room as Goren and Eames walked in and let the door slam behind them.

"Where's Ashley?" Sherman asked first thing.

"You have bigger concerns," Eames said. "Like how popular you're going to be in prison."

"Prison? I can't go to prison."

"Where did you think you were going to go when you got caught?" she asked him. He was silent.

"He didn't think he would get caught, did you Sherman?" Goren spoke up. "He thought he was too smart. And then he was just too high to worry about it. I wonder what Jocelyn is going to think about all of this?"

"She doesn't have to know, does she?"

"Look around, Sherman," Eames said sharply. "You're in deep."

"Not to mention the whole paternity thing."

"What paternity thing? What are you talking about?"

"Felcia was pregnant."

Sherman wasn't smart enough to pretend he didn't know the girl. His face fell immediately and he turned to his lawyer.

"How can they know that?"

"It's called DNA, Mr. Moser," Eames said.

"I didn't give you permission!"

"I don't need it when you leave it all over me," she retorted.

"If you could control your urges a little better, maybe you wouldn't be in this mess. You had to sleep with all the girls you brought in, didn't you? _Test drive_? Isn't that what you told Detective Eames?"

"No, that's not what I…"

"Oh but it is what you meant. You didn't have to ask who Felcia was, did you? You know who she is. And you know she was pregnant when you had her killed."

"No! No, I didn't know she was pregnant, I swear!"

"But you did have sex with her."

"Yes."

"And you did order her killed."

"No! I didn't know about it until after."

"So who ordered it? We know Tommy did it, but it wasn't his idea. He's not that smart."

Sherman put his head in his hands. Goren walked around the table so that he stood behind the man, and then he leaned in close.

"You feel it all slipping away, don't you? You had a posh job, a nice life…and you threw it all away."

"Those two are good," I commented to Ross. He was quiet during the interview and I had absolutely no idea what the man was thinking. So it shocked the hell out of me when he clicked off the intercom and turned to me and Carolyn.

"You know him, right?" he asked. _Oh for the love of God, if he asked me one more time about Goren and Eames I was going to hit him_.

"Yeah, Captain," Carolyn replied since I didn't.

"I heard some things about him."

"Like what?" I asked, going from annoyed to angry in a flash.

"You asked me earlier why I'm hard on him. I'm trying to explain."

"I'm listening."

"You know what happened with Jimmy Deakins, right?"

"I work for him, now and then. Of course I know."

"He got railroaded out of here," Carolyn said, giving Ross the answer he was looking for. "Goren and Eames helped clear him, but he still left just to save the image of the department."

"Moran blames Goren for that."

"Of course he does. Moran hates Goren more than you do."

"I don't…" Ross began, and then he sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I don't _hate_ Goren."

"What did Moran tell you about him?" Carolyn asked. "Because it's a safe bet that it's a lie."

"I think I'm finally starting to see that."

"Well?" I asked.

"My wife had recently left me. I knew she was having an affair, but I didn't know the details."

I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

"Captain," I started. But he had to get the words out.

"Moran told me that it was Goren. He said he'd seen her and Goren out together, clearly…intimate with each other."

"No fucking way," I ground out.

"He's right, Danny," Carolyn said, using his first name to take a more sympathetic approach. "There's no way."

"You don't think so, or you know for a fact?"

"It's a fact. For one thing, Bobby's old man was a womanizer. He would never consider an affair. Never."

"And the other thing?"

I turned and looked back into the room where Goren and Eames were raking Sherman over the coals. Their body language, their rhythm…it was all perfectly in sync.

"I'm not going to say it, but if you can't see it…"

"I know. I'm an idiot."

TBC...


	24. Chapter 24

Alex POV

* * *

I took a shower in the locker room at 1PP and got dressed in the spare outfit that I keep on hand for just such an occasion. You know, for any time I get covered in brain matter.

I went through the clean-up process as quickly as possible. I knew Bobby had wanted to come in with me, but of course, that was out of the question. He didn't want to let me out of his sight after the scare I'd given him. I didn't blame him, but there was no way he was coming into the work locker room with me while I showered.

He was leaning against the wall opposite the door, watching for me intently.

"I'm not going to disappear on you," I told him gently. But I understood the sentiment. I wanted to touch him, to hold him and forget about this whole evening. But we still had work to do.

"I know. Can I help it if I like to look at you?" he asked softly. I glanced in each direction down the hall.

"I guess you can't help that," I replied with a smile.

"Good. Because you look…" he paused and it seemed as though he was struggling with his emotions.

"Bobby?" I asked, forcing myself to stay on my side of the hall. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"When we get out of here tonight..."

"I know." And there I stood, seriously contemplating hugging him right there on the eleventh floor of 1PP. Or maybe even dragging him into the locker room.

My cell phone rang and rescued us from a potentially dangerous situation.

"Eames," I answered without taking my eyes off of Bobby.

"It's Liz. Your rapid HIV test came back negative," she said, quickly cutting to the chase. I had tensed up at the sound of her voice, but relief washed over me with the news.

"Oh, thank God," I said to her. And then I said to Bobby. "It's negative."

He smiled and gave me an encouraging nod.

"Thanks, Liz. I really appreciate you rushing that through."

"No problem. Of course, I tested for a few other things as well and those results are still pending, but I also had the needle itself analyzed. It doesn't appear as though it was used before. There is no trace evidence of a second person. You should be good. I'll call you back when I get the full results."

I thanked her again, and then hung up.

"Who do you want to get first?" Bobby asked me.

"Sherman."

We tag-teamed Sherman for nearly half an hour before he let it slip that Elka must have been the one to order the hit on Felcia.

"Why?" I asked. I had to admit that I was a little surprised that he had squealed.

"The girls like Elka. Felcia would have told her about the baby."

"And Elka didn't want it coming back on you? She was protecting you?" Bobby suggested.

"Yeah. I guess so. And she loved Ashley, so she was probably doing it to keep anything from hurting her. Felcia having my baby would have torn my family apart."

We left Sherman and went out into the hall.

"Elka _loved_ Ashley?" I repeated. "Past tense? We didn't tell him Ashley was dead."

"And if he thought it, he certainly would've been more upset."

"So maybe he thinks Elka is dead."

"Why did Ashley have that needle with her anyway? She didn't suspect us," Bobby said suddenly.

"I don't know. Let's go see what Tommy has to say."

Tommy Booker sat in the interrogation room with his feet propped up on the table. Bobby walked over to him and shoved his feet off.

"You're the fucking cops?" Tommy asked. "You two? Yeah, I knew it."

"You knew it. Right. That's why you were snortin' blow right in front of us," I told him.

That shut him up for a minute.

"So, Tommy," Bobby began. We wanted to see how riled up we could get him. He'd gone a couple of hours now without any blow and it was going to give him a short fuse. "How's the stones?"

"What?"

"You know, the boys. Need an ice pack or something? I heard you took a nice shot to the jewels."

"That bitch got lucky."

"You're still alive. I'd say you're the one who got lucky," I told him. "The last guy who grabbed her ended up in a morgue."

"Then the last guy was a pussy," he preened.

"But not you, right?" Bobby asked. He was wandering around behind Tommy and I could tell it made him a little nervous. "You like to push women around, don't you? Beat 'em up a little?"

"Only when they have it coming."

"Did Felcia Dudek have it coming?" I asked. "Or Daiya Pawlak?"

"I think _you_ got it coming," he snapped back. He started to stand up, but Bobby put a heavy hand on his shoulder and he slowly sat back down.

"You played Ashley," he accused, keeping his heated gaze directed at me.

"We played all of you," Bobby said. "But you're protecting Ashley. Why?"

"Is she the one who told you to kill Felcia Dudek?" I asked.

"I didn't kill Felcia."

"We already know you did. You killed four of them. Sherman gave you up. We just want to know who ordered the hit."

"Listen carefully. I'm going to say it slowly so you can be sure to understand. I did not fucking kill any one."

Bobby approached the table quickly from behind Tommy and slammed his hand down hard against the formica.

"We don't have time for this!" he shouted. It startled Tommy, and would've gotten me,too, if I hadn't known it was coming. Bobby kept his hands braced on the table and loomed large over Tommy.

"You killed four girls! We don't need you to confess. We have the evidence. All we want to know is who told you to do it!"

"Fuck. You. I'll beat this wrap and when I get out of here, I'm gonna kill you both."

"Oh great, thanks. Now we can add two counts of threatening the life of a police officer to the already-long list of charges," I told him casually. But truth be told, all we had was the bloody fingerprint. That was about all as far as forensics went, and a good defense attorney would argue that it didn't directly connect him to the murder. So we really needed him to fess up.

"Felcia was pregnant. And you…"

"What?" Tommy interrupted. And his confusion was genuine. _Hmm_…

"Felcia was pregnant. Twelve weeks," I told him. "You didn't know that?"

"I…uh…no. No, I didn't. I never would've…"

"Beat her up? Killed her? You wouldn't have done it if you'd known, would you? You're not a monster. You wouldn't kill a woman and her unborn child," Bobby coaxed.

"No," he said. He was starting to crumble. "I…I didn't know. I wouldn't have."

"Who told you to do it?" I asked again. The seconds dragged on as Tommy pondered his situation. We waited.

"Elka," he said finally. "Elka told me that Felcia was starting a revolt and that I had to stop her."

"And the others?"

"They were getting together, trying to convince the other girls to quit."

"You killed Daiya first," I prompted.

"I just found her first," he admitted. "They all went out and got those damn tattoos. It was supposed to be some kind of symbol that they were going to make it in this country. Stupid bitches."

"What about Monique?"

"Who?"

"Monique Bastock. Adrianna's roommate."

"I don't know who that is."

We left Tommy alone and headed for Elka.

"Something's not quite right here, Eames."

"What do you mean?" I asked, although I had that lingering hunch as well.

"Tommy and Sherman both gave up Elka? She supposed to be running this whole operation."

"Maybe they don't like her. Ashley was the one who was in love with her."

"Tommy didn't even ask about Ashley. Or Elka."

"What are you thinking?"

"I don't know. Let's see what we get from Elka."

Twenty minutes later, we were even more confused. Elka didn't even show a flash of recognition at the mention of Felcia Dudek. Was it possible that Ashley was the one who had ordered the hits? It didn't fit with Ashley looking to Tommy for approval in the bar the other night though.

"We've got you on tape saying, and I quote, _the bitch deserved it_. What did you mean by that?" I asked her.

"She was hitting on my Ashley."

"Who?"

"Monique," she said as though we were stupid for not keeping up. "And if I'd had another ten minutes tonight, you were going to be next," she replied. _Great._ Everyone apparently wanted me dead.

"You killed Monique Bastock," Bobby concluded. "But why? She wasn't trying to get Ashley. She was in love with Adrianna."

"Who?"

"One of the girls. From the business."

"The escort business?"

Bobby and I looked at each other. This was not going like we had thought that it would. If Elka wasn't running things, then who was? And Elka was supposedly in Poland at the time that Monique was killed.

We left Elka and went to regroup. Mike and Carolyn were in one of the conference rooms.

"How'd it go with Elka?" Mike asked after we'd closed the door.

"You didn't watch?"

"We watched Sherman and Tommy. And then we went back to talk to Luka."

"Why?"

"You first," Carolyn said.

"Elka says she killed Monique because she was after Ashley."

"But she was out of the country, right?" Mike asked.

"That's what we thought. But we know of one alias already. Maybe she flew back in under another name."

"And she said she was going to kill me tonight because of Ashley. She was jealous," I told them.

"Kill you how? She didn't have any weapons on her," Carolyn said.

"Maybe she knew Ashley had the needle?"

"Now you," Bobby said, anxious to hear what Logan was sniffing out.

"We didn't like that everybody was quick to point at Elka," Mike said. I loved it that he had come to the same conclusion we had. "So we thought about the drug angle again."

"Luka told me that Tommy had an eight-ball a day habit," Carolyn said. "And coke was all Tommy ever bought from him. I wanted to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything."

"You mean like ketamine," I said. "And?"

"He says no. In fact, he said that Tommy even told him they had a connection for the Special K and that if Luka needed anything, he could hook him up."

"Tommy was going to deal to the dealer?"

"He must have been getting it for free, or at least real cheap."

"From who?"

"Luka didn't know. But who do we know that would have access to drugs?"

"A drug like ketamine? I don't know," Bobby admitted. "It's used mostly by veterinarians."

"You need to get Tommy to fess up," Mike said.

"What do we have, Detectives?" Ross asked as he entered the room.

"We're going back to Tommy," I said. "Something's not right about this whole thing."

"What's not right? Sherman and Tommy both said Elka ordered the hits. It's a done deal. Let's write it up and go home."

"Captain, I don't think it's Elka. I'm mean, yeah, she's a killer. But she didn't order the hits. There's someone else."

"Someone else," he said with annoyance. I was so tired of him doubting every word out of Bobby's mouth.

I started to speak up and then I noticed Logan giving him a pointed stare. _What?_

"Okay, if you think there's someone else involved, then go another round at him," Ross agreed. "I'll be in my office."

"What was that about?" I asked Mike after Ross left.

"What?"

"He never gives in that easily."

"You guys need to talk," Logan told me.

"Me and Ross?"

"You and Ross, Goren and Ross. Hell, all three of you need to get together and have a nice little chat, okay?"

My phone rang and I pulled it from my pocket while still staring at Mike in confusion.

"Eames."

"You've had some activity on that account I was watching." It was the tech guy.

"What's up?"

"All of the money was moved out, and the account was closed."

"Closed? Just now? It's nearly midnight." Not to mention all of our suspects were in custody.

"It's all done online these days. It doesn't matter what time it is, especially when it's a banks that deals with a lot of international customers. They don't want to have to worry about time zones."

"Can you tell where the money went?"

"Caymans. A numbered account."

"Okay, thanks."

I hung up and told the others.

"You go ask Elka about the money and I'm going to find out from Tommy where he gets his K."

We split up and I went in to see Elka.

"Oh, you came alone this time. You're not afraid of me?"

"Should I be?"

"Let me out of these cuffs if you're not scared," she replied.

"Tell me about the Bahamas," I said, ignoring her threat.

"It's a bunch of islands of the coast of Florida."

"Ha ha," I said dryly. "What else?"

"Is this is history lesson?" she asked.

"I think you mean geography," I replied. "But no, it's not. Tell me what you know about Bahamian banking."

"Don't do it," she laughed. "They can't keep a secret for shit."

"So you don't have an account there."

"In the Bahamas? Are you crazy?"

"So why did Ashley have me wire ninety thousand dollars into a Bahamian account in your name?"

Elka went pale. She really didn't know about it.

"Ashley was setting you up, wasn't she?" I asked, unable to resist taunting her a little. "She didn't love you at all. You were going to be her fall guy."

"No. No, that's impossible."

"You just keep telling yourself that."

I left Elka alone and went into the observation room where Bobby was waiting with Mike and Carolyn.

"She didn't know," Carolyn confirmed.

"Nope. It was a cover. They put the money into an account that traced to Elka before siphoning it away into untraceable accounts. If anyone was going to get caught, it would be Elka."

"So who closed out the account?"

"Good question. What'd you find out?" I asked Bobby.

"He says Elka got the K, but he was lying. He's protecting someone else, the same person who moved the money. The real person behind all of this."

TBC...


	25. Chapter 25

**Rodgers POV**

* * *

I walked through the squad room, keeping an eye out for Detective Eames, but I didn't see her so I went into Danny's office.

"Liz! What are you doing here?" he asked. He came around the desk and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It wasn't his normal behavior in the office, but it was pretty late. There weren't many people around and his blinds were closed.

"I was looking for Detective Eames. Is she still around?"

"I think she and her partner are still interrogating our suspects we arrested this evening. She should be done soon. Is it something I can pass on to her?"

"I got her lab results back. I'll just wait if you don't mind."

"Of course not."

I sat down in one of his visitor's chairs and looked around the office. I didn't come in here very often, so I enjoyed the opportunity to take it all in. I noticed a handgun lying out on his desk.

"You leave your gun on your desk?"

"It's not mine," he replied. "It's Goren's."

"Why?"

"He killed a suspect tonight. IAB will investigate. It's the second one he's killed in a couple of months."

"I know. You told me. You also told me you were there and that he had no choice. And it was videotaped. There's still going to be an IAB investigation?"

"It's standard procedure," he told me, still using his police captain voice. I wasn't buying it.

"Isn't it also standard procedure for a captain's word to be good enough in a situation like this? There were half a dozen witnesses and video surveillance. Detective Eames was almost killed for God's sake."

"Liz. Stay out of this," he said calmly.

"Normally, I would. But you can't seem to remain professional when it comes to Detective Goren," I accused.

Goren had been the root of many of our fights over the past several days. Hell, the past few weeks. But Danny was wrong, and I was going to keep at it until he admitted it.

He didn't take my bait though. Instead, he opened up a file on his desk and started doing paper work. I sighed and got up, moving closer to his desk and nudging my hip up to sit along the edge.

"What is it, Danny?"

"What is what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. And you need to get if off your chest. You're going to lose your best detectives if you can't get over this. If you run him away, Eames will go, too. You know that."

He sat back in his chair and threw his pen on his desk.

"Why are you pushing this?"

"Because I like him. And you're not treating him fairly. And that's not like you."

"It's just…he's just…he's arrogant."

"So are you."

"He thinks he's smarter than everyone else."

"So do you."

"He thinks rules don't apply to him."

"I'm sensing a pattern here."

"Liz, I'm serious."

"So am I. You don't like him because he's too much like you. Two alpha dogs in the pack. You need to get over it. You're the boss."

"That's right. And he has no respect for that."

"Maybe because you've never given him any cause."

"Why are you taking up for him?"

"Why _aren't_ you?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but then nothing came out. I had him. He knew I was right. He might not like it, but he knew it. I backed off a little.

"You're a good captain, a good man." He sighed again and looked up at me.

"It's just that…Moran..."

"Moran? He's a pompous ass-kisser who isn't qualified to make coffee. How does he play into this?"

"Liz, he's my boss."

"Okay. That doesn't mean he's not a jackass. It just means he's a schmoozing jackass who screwed over the right people. Now tell me."

"Moran told me that Goren slept with Nancy."

"What? Your ex?"

"Yeah. Before she was my ex."

"Detective Goren would never do that."

"That's exactly what Mike Logan said."

"You told Logan?"

"Just a little while ago. He cornered me, too. Apparently everyone thinks I treat him badly."

"You do."

He narrowed his eyes and gave me a hard stare, but I wasn't about to back down. I was getting to the heart of the matter now.

"I can understand that you believed Moran at the time. You didn't know Goren, and you needed someone to be the focus of your anger and frustration. It was easier to blame him than blame Nancy since you still have to deal with her. But it's wrong, Danny."

"I had a feeling…" he admitted, putting his head down in his hands. I waited.

"When Goren was on suspension and the chief wanted him to go undercover. It was dangerous and the chief wouldn't let him tell Eames about it. I thought maybe at the time that he hoped Goren might get killed. Or that he would turn bad. At the very least, he wanted Eames to request a new partner."

"And it didn't occur to you then that maybe Moran is the one with the vendetta against Goren? Hell, maybe _Moran_ slept with Nancy."

"Liz!"

"I'm just saying…Moran is the one gunning for him. And he's pulled you into it. He's using you to do his dirty work, to try to get him out of here."

"What am I supposed to do about this now?"

"You need to fix this. And you need to fix it soon, or you're going to find yourself short two Major Case detectives. Because if he goes, she goes."

"Well, yeah. There's that, too," he said. And I knew where he was going. "They're together. You know it. I know it. And I can't ignore it."

"Yes you can."

"I'm supposed to pretend that they're not breaking the rules."

"You feel more loyalty to Moran than you do them? He lied to you and let you act like an ass to Goren for all these years. They've done nothing but make this department look good."

"You really want me to look the other way?"

"Yes. Until someone flat out tells you about it, then yes."

* * *

**Bobby POV**

It was Jocelyn Moser. Maybe. With the way this case was going, I wasn't going to say anything with any certainty.

But another search had turned up that she volunteered at a veterinary clinic twice a week. She would've had access to the ketamine. Sherman would've wanted to protect her.

And Tommy…well, maybe she was letting failed drug tests slip through the cracks some times. Maybe he was indebted to her somehow. It was iffy, but it was possible.

But the bottom line was that we had to get to her house. If it was her, and she realized that the rest of her gang had been picked up, then she was likely cleaning up shop and getting the hell out. And the fact that she'd moved the money made it a safe bet that she knew.

I knew Ross wasn't going to be happy about this latest turn of events. I was still feeling over-protective of Alex after her ordeal this evening, so I volunteered my own head for the chopping block.

"Captain," I said, walking into Ross' office with uncharacteristic disregard for knocking. I just wanted to get the ass-chewing over with.

Rodgers was sitting on his desk and they were deep in conversation. _Well, at least it was only conversation I was interrupting._ And I would no longer have fantasies about doing anything else on Ross' desk.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," I said quickly, nodding at Liz. "It's Jocelyn Moser. Sherman's wife. We think maybe she's involved. We've got to get out there and talk to her."

"She's in on this?"

"We think so. It fits. Eames and I are going out there now."

"With Logan and Barek?"

"They're going to take Luka Milofksy back to Brooklyn and keep an eye on him. He's saying that cops from the 6-9 are harassing him and stealing his stash."

"You can't bump that to the local precinct?"

"Not when we don't know for sure who all is involved. They'll just watch. No guns, no arrests, just recon."

"Okay," he agreed. I bit back the rest of my convincing argument. _He agreed already? _

"Go, go. And here," he added, holding out my gun to me. "You're cleared. Take it."

I was in complete shock at his gesture. He wasn't going to argue with me about Logan and Barek. He wasn't going to jump on me for missing the possible connection of Jocelyn Moser. _And_ he was going to make a statement on my behalf to quash the IAB investigation?

"Goren, take your weapon and go. Call if you need back-up."

I took my gun and holstered it and then looked at Liz. She had a medical report in her hand.

"Eames?" I asked, waving my hand in the direction of the report. She nodded and handed it to me.

"Can you give it to her?"

"Yeah, sure. Thank you," I said, keeping her eye for a second. She had to be the reason for all of this. Ross just didn't want to look like a dick in front of his wife.

I hustled out of Ross' office. I caught Logan's eye from across the room and gave him a thumbs-up. He and Carolyn headed off to holding to get Luka. I rounded the corner to the elevators where Eames was waiting, pushing the down button repeatedly.

"Ross is good?" Alex asked me.

"Yeah. He…uh…he gave me my weapon back. And he called me by name."

"Well it's about damn time," she muttered.

"Here's your lab results," I told her, handing her the piece of paper. "Rodgers was in with Ross." I watched as Alex scanned the report quickly and then a smile went across her face. The elevator arrived and we got in.

"It's all good?"

"All good." The elevator doors closed and we were alone. With no cameras. I grabbed her quickly and held on tight for all eleven floors.

Once in the parking garage, Alex held out her hand for the keys.

"Didn't Logan say something about a twenty-four hour rule?"

"Bobby. Give me the damn keys," she said, but her smirk gave her away. I was glad to see she was back in full feisty mode, so I held them out to her and she grabbed them up.

We drove quickly out to Long Island. If Jocelyn was involved, and she was able to escape, we may never find her. She had money stashed all over the world. So we were relieved when we got to the house and there were lights on. And a car idling in the driveway. And the front door was open.

"Not a minute too soon," Alex said softly as we got out of the car. She drew her weapon, and so did I. We had no idea what to expect here.

We got to the open front door, and called out.

"Jocelyn Moser! It's the NYPD!"

Silence.

"Door's open, but there's no answer. She could be our suspect or a victim. I think that means we get to go in," Alex said.

"Let's call for back-up and then check it out."

She nodded at me and placed the call. Then I pushed the door all the way open and we stepped inside.

The foyer was large with a cathedral ceiling. A chandelier sparkled from high overhead. A staircase was on the right and there were rooms to the left.

"I'll go up," she said quietly as she approached the stairs. She eased up the stairs and I made my way through the rooms on the main floor. We were still in complete silence, but the closer I got to the back of the house I began to smell an odor. It was sweet and the source was escaping me.

I went around a corner and ran into Jocelyn Moser. Or rather, she ran into me. With a baseball bat.

She caught me in the leg with a homerun swing by a Louisville Slugger, and then followed it up with a check-swing to the face. I staggered backwards from the force of the blows and slammed into the wall.

"You're too late," Jocelyn said. "This place is going up."

Believe it or not, while all of this was happening, my mind was still playing guessing games with the unidentified smell.

"Ethyl chloride," I muttered, my brain finally locking on the answer. I was amazed I could think anything at all.

But as I said it, Jocelyn clicked open a lighter and tossed it into the kitchen. They room was instantly alight. Jocelyn raced for the patio doors, but I couldn't run after her. My leg was refusing to cooperate.

"Eames!" I shouted. The kitchen was in full blaze now, and I was close enough to it to feel the heat.

"Goren!" It was Eames, and I could hear her thundering down the stairs as I stumbled closer to the front of the house.

"She went out the side! Go get her!"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! Go! Go!"

She paused only a millisecond before heading out the patio doors.

TBC...


	26. Chapter 26

**Logan POV**

* * *

We stopped the car a couple of blocks away from Luka's alley hangout in Brooklyn. I climbed out of the car and then let him out of the back.

"We'll be right back," I told Carolyn with a grin. I led Luka by the elbow over to a dumpster on a darkened side street.

"You gonna kill me now?" he asked me with fear.

"I should," I told him. "But I won't if you do this right."

"I will. I swear."

And just for good measure, just because I was still so pissed at him for giving Carolyn up and nearly getting her killed, I grabbed a piece of rebar out of the dumpster and held it against his throat.

"You're going to keep your ear to ground. And whenever she asks you for information, you're going to give it to her. Everything. Got it? Jaywalking. Littering. You see a crime going down, you tell her about it. Are we clear?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

"And you don't talk about her to anybody."

"I won't."

"If you're lying to us about these cops…"

"I'm not lying!"

"Alright. We'll do this thing tonight. And then you crawl back under your rock. If we need you, we'll find you. But if you rat her out again…"

"Never."

"Okay," I said. I gave him a hard stare for several more seconds, just so that he knew for sure I meant business. Then I tossed the rebar back into the dumpster and went back to the car.

Luka had told us that Taggart and Woody usually came by just before the end of their shift. A quick call to the desk sergeant had told us that their shift ended at one a.m.

I had parked the car close enough to have a view of the opening of the alley. We were going to see if those two showed up to shake down Luka. If they did, we'd catch them.

"You roughed him up, didn't you?" Carolyn asked me when I got in the car.

"Who me?"

"Mike."

"Nah. I didn't do anything. I just wanted to make sure he knew the rules."

She didn't say anything for a few minutes. I knew that she knew what I'd done. And it probably irritated her a little, but I knew she also understood it. Or I hoped so anyway.

"You think Jocelyn Moser is in this thing?" she asked finally. I breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't going to chew my ass.

"Yeah. It's got to be her. Either that, or someone who hasn't made a blip on the radar yet."

"You think they're out there yet?" I checked my watch.

"Probably just about."

We were quiet again. I turned on the police scanner and set it to the Long Island frequency.

"What do you think of the whole Ross thing?" I asked.

"I think Bobby might be better off to just quit. Ross is going to have a hard time changing how he treats him after all this time. And for him to just believe that Bobby would do that? I don't know if I'd get over that."

"Yeah. Moran is yanking his chain."

I started to say more when the radio crackled to life.

"We've got a 10-54I at 1078 Berkshire Road." I sat up straight in the seat. That was Jocelyn Moser's address, and 10-54 was an ambulance request. But it kept going.

"We also have a 10-59 and a 10-13 at the same location. Please advise."

"Holy shit," I said. "The place is on fire?"

"We need to get out there."

"It'll all be over by the time we get there," I said. But I still started the engine. And then I saw Woody and Taggart stroll down the road toward Luka's hangout.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I yelled out, slamming my fist into the dash. "What do you want to do?"

"This. We do this first," Carolyn said calmly. It was a damn good thing she was calm because I wasn't. "Mike. They'll be fine. Let's go catch these assholes."

* * *

**Alex POV**

I couldn't think about Bobby. I had to catch Jocelyn. It went against every fiber of my being to leave him in that house, but realistically, I knew that while he was hurt, he was conscious and moving and he would be able to get out. And we had a suspect to catch.

I could see Jocelyn ahead of me. She was going for the car and I didn't think I was going to make it to her before she got in, but our SUV had her blocked.

"NYPD! Stop!" I shouted again. I was gaining ground. I sprinted across the front yard and was about fifty feet away from her when she climbed into the driver's seat. The car was running, so all she had to do was slam it into gear. She did.

She whipped the car into the front yard and started barreling down on me. I stopped and aimed quickly before firing off my entire clip into the windshield. The car veered wildly and hit a tree. I ran over to the driver's side.

"Jocelyn Moser! Get out of the car!"

And then something in the house blew. The back of the house was completely engulfed and I couldn't see Bobby anywhere. And because my attention moved from my suspect to the house, Jocelyn kicked me in the gut with both feet.

I fell back on my ass and she climbed out of the car and took off running again. _Shit._

"Goren!" I shouted out even though I was running in the opposite direction. I prayed fervently that he was out of the house. My gun was useless at this point so I tossed it and pulled out my cell phone and jammed in 9-1-1.

"This is Detective Eames with the NYPD Major Case Squad, badge number 5798, requesting immediate back-up, along with an ambulance and a fire truck to 1078 Berkshire Road. Possible officer down."

I didn't wait for a response, but instead just crammed my cell back into my pocket and kept chasing after Jocelyn. Damn, why did they always have to run?

She crossed the road and headed for the woods on the other side. If she got in there, I was in trouble. I threw myself at her and grabbed her at her knees. We both went down hard, but came up swinging. She was desperate to escape and I was desperate to get back to Bobby. We both had everything to lose.

My punch landed first and caught her in the jaw. She caught me with a glancing blow to the cheek, but I managed to wrestle her underneath me and pin her arms under my legs.

"It's over!" I shouted. "Lay still!"

"Fuck you!"

She was so not what I had been expecting. Innocent wife my ass. I took a breath for a second since I had her under control and then I spun her over and got her hands cuffed behind her back. Then I jerked her to her feet.

"Goren!" I shouted again into the darkness. _Please God, please God_. I made a promise to myself right then and there that if we made it out of this mess, then I was going to confess everything to Ross immediately.

"Goren!" I called again as I dragged Jocelyn back across the front yard.

"Shut up," she spat out. I shoved her hard and she tripped, falling onto her face. I hauled her back to her feet and kept walking towards the blazing house.

"Eames!" _Finally._ It was faint, but I could tell he was outside. And I could hear sirens. I hustled her along faster until I could finally see Bobby in the grass in the front of the house. He had managed to get several yards off the porch, but I could tell from the way he was sitting that he was in pain.

I stopped by Jocelyn's car and quickly undid her cuffs and then reattached them through the busted out window. And then I could finally do what I'd been wanting to do all along. I ran to Bobby.

"You got her?" he asked me.

"I got her. We need to get you further away from the house," I told him. "Can you walk if I help you?"

"You're bleeding," he said. I reached my hand up to my cheek and felt the moisture.

"Yeah, well so are you. Come on."

I helped him to his feet and we made it to the driveway just as the fire truck arrived, followed closely by the cops.

"Detective Eames?" the first officer asked as he got out of the car. I nodded and showed him my badge and filled him in on the events.

"Can you transport the suspect back to Manhattan? I didn't read her her rights yet."

"We'll take care of it."

I talked Bobby into letting the EMT look at his leg. Miraculously, it didn't appear to be broken, but he was going to have a hell of a bruise there. His face was swollen and starting to discolor already, but his neuro-check was okay.

"You're pretty tough, aren't you?" I asked him once we were heading back toward 1PP.

"She swung like a girl," he teased. I was glad he was in good spirits, because I knew he had to in pain.

"You scared me," I admitted since we were alone. "I didn't want to leave you."

"I know. But it was the right thing to do. I think we've got the hang of this relationship-slash-partnership thing."

I turned to him and gave him a smile.

"I think we do, too. And we need to just tell Ross. No more waiting around. No more playing games."

"Are you sure?"

"Unless you don't want to."

"No. No I think it's time. It's past time."

"Good. Tonight then."

"Sounds good to me," he said on a sigh, leaning his head back against the seat.

"Eames?" he asked. "Or Alex?"

I had thought he was getting my attention, but apparently he was establishing our current roles.

"Alex. For about ten more minutes."

"Good," he said. And then he reached over and held my hand.

We stayed like that the rest of the way to 1PP.

"Detectives," Ross called to us when we walked into the squad room. My cell was ringing, but I ignored it and followed Bobby into our boss' office. He was limping heavily, but he was able to walk on his own, so that was an improvement from earlier.

"Are you okay?" Ross asked Goren as he closed the office door.

"I'll be fine, sir."

"Baseball bat to the thigh and jaw," I clarified.

"But Jocelyn Moser is in custody," Bobby added.

"Excellent work. I take it she's our man?"

"If not, she was trying pretty hard to hide evidence of something else."

"I heard. She set the whole place on fire, huh?"

"Yes sir."

Ross nodded and leaned against the front of his desk with his arms folded across his chest.

"It's late. You guys go on home tonight. We've got enough evidence on everybody to hold them. Get some rest and we'll start again in the morning."

"Yes sir," I said, grateful that he had suggested it. It was nearly two a.m. and I was exhausted, but neither of us made any move to leave.

"Have you heard from Logan and Barek?" Bobby asked.

"They're on the way in. They got into a minor scuffle with Taggart, but some other cops from the 6-9 backed them up."

"So Woody and Taggart were both arrested?" Ross nodded.

"Apparently with a few grams of coke they'd stolen off of Luka. And Barek filed an additional complaint of assault, so that should be fun."

"She did? What happened?" I asked.

"Taggart took a swing at her when he recognized her from the other day. She had put in a call to their captain on Sunday to let him know about his harassment of your partner."

"He hit her?" Bobby asked. He could never quite comprehend how a man would hit a woman. I'm sure he had seen too much of that in his youth.

"Yeah, and then Logan hit him. Taggart went for his weapon and it had the potential to get ugly, but Woody did the right thing and helped Logan subdue Taggart."

"And they're coming here?"

"Looks like they're here now," Ross said with a nod toward the squad room. I watched as Logan searched the room and then met my gaze. He stopped and took a deep breath. I guess he had been worried about us.

"He asked about you two when he called to tell me what had happened in Brooklyn. He heard your distress call on the scanner, but at the time, I didn't know much."

"He's called a few times, but I haven't been able to get it," I said. "I called him back on the way here, but then he wasn't answering. I guess he had his hands full."

We were all quiet for a moment, ignoring the elephant in the room. It was probably not the time for the discussion, but I wasn't going to let it go another day.

"Captain," I began.

"Liz gave Goren your medical report," he said, catching me by surprise.

"Yes sir."

"She wouldn't have done that without having your permission," he said. And then he turned to Bobby. "She's given you access to her medical records."

"Yes sir. And she has authorization to access mine."

"Uh huh. And the ring?"

"Sir," Bobby began on a deep sigh. I took over.

"Sir, when we close this case, we're going to take a few days. And we're going to get married."

"What?"

"And when we get back," I continued. "We'll talk about how you want to handle it. But I can tell you right now, that if you try to reassign us, we'll both quit."

"Is that a threat?" he asked, although with more resignation than anger.

"No. That's just how it's going to be. We're not going to flaunt it, but we're not going to hide it. We'll let personnel know so that they'll have the correct information. But when we're at work, we'll be professional, just like always."

"I'll give you that. You are always detectives first when you're in this house," he admitted. "Okay, go home. We should be able to finish this up tomorrow and then I don't want to see you guys again until Monday. We'll talk then."

"Thank you, sir," I said. I felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted. And it hadn't been as bad as I'd imagined. There were no tantrums, no screaming…he must have seen it coming.

I opened up the door for Bobby and as he hobbled through it, Ross said one more thing that completely threw me for a loop.

"Detective Goren, have you ever met my ex-wife Nancy?"

Bobby turned around to look at him, thoroughly confused.

"No sir. I don't think so. Why?"

"Never mind. I should have known."

We turned again to leave, but he called us back one more time.

"And Detectives. Congratulations."

TBC...


	27. Chapter 27

**Logan** **POV **

* * *

My relief at seeing Goren and Eames in Ross' office caught me by surprise. I hadn't realized just how frightened I'd been for them.

Because I don't do frightened.

But somewhere along the line, those two had become like family to me. Okay, not like _my_ family, because my family had sucked. But like what a family is supposed to be.

So when I saw them, I was finally able to breathe properly again. And then I felt the warmth of Carolyn's hand on my back, and I just felt a sense of…something. I can't explain it without sounding like a Lifetime movie.

I shook my head to dislodge the thoughts and leaned slightly into Carolyn, appreciating her calm presence after such an unbelievably wild night.

We waited patiently for the two of them to come out of Ross' office.

"Do you think he's confessing his sins?" Carolyn murmured to me.

"Ross? No."

"He told us. You don't think he wants to clear the air?"

"I think he wants to sweep it all under the rug. I don't think he'll ever admit to Goren what Moran told him. He just wants to have it all go away."

"That's a pretty cynical view, don't you think?"

"Hey, I call it like I see it. Ross told me about it, and now he thinks I'll tell Goren and then he won't have to."

"Are you going to?"

"Tell Goren?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know," I replied, because I really wasn't sure. Was it the right thing to do, or would that just add fuel to the fire?

"Not tonight," I added. That much I knew. It was late, and we were all exhausted. It had been a hell of a day, and I had to be up and report to my real job in a few hours.

"You guys okay?" Eames asked us when they finally came out of Ross' office. I had heard the last thing he'd said to them. _Congratulations._

"We're fine. Are you still employed?" I asked with a nod in the captain's direction.

"For now. We'll see," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "We're going home for tonight, though. We can finish up tomorrow."

"What the hell happened to you?" I asked Goren. "You look like you got hit with a baseball bat."

"Ha ha," he replied, although he did smile. "I guess good news travels fast."

"When I couldn't get you guys, I made the dispatcher put me through to the responding officer. He filled me in on what he knew."

"How's the eye?" Eames asked Carolyn. I followed her gaze and checked out my wife's shiner for the umpteenth time. The anger pumped through me again at the sight of the emerging purple and blue on her beautiful face. _Fucking Taggart_.

"I'm fine. I look a hell of a lot better than Taggart does. I think Mike might've broken his jaw."

"Good," Eames replied quickly. "He had it coming."

"He had a hell of a lot more than that coming," I muttered.

"He'll get his," Carolyn said quietly. "Cops don't do so good in prison."

"You guys ready to go?" Goren asked. He looked like he was ready to drop.

"Yeah. Are you going to make it to the car?"

He couldn't. Or not very well, anyway, so I helped him to the elevator and then through the parking garage and into the SUV.

"You gonna be able to get into your apartment?" I asked him as Eames climbed into the driver's side. "And hey, what did I say about that twenty-four hour rule?"

"It gets trumped by getting mistaken for a baseball," she told me with a smile. "Go home and get some rest. Carolyn, I'll call you tomorrow."

We made it home in record time, because hey – I cheated. I still had a siren and I used the damn thing. It would've gotten me in a world of trouble if I'd gotten caught, but I didn't. And I wasn't going to feel bad about it. As much work as I'd done for the NYPD lately, I didn't think that twenty minutes of unauthorized use of a siren was too much to ask.

We made short work of locking up and stripping down. It was after three, and I had to be up at six.

"So which one do you want to be?" Carolyn asked me softly once we were settled in bed. I was overtired and while my body felt like it could just melt into the sheets, my mind was going a thousand miles an hour.

But with all that mental activity, I still had no idea what she was talking about.

"Which one what?"

"Superhero. Goren is Batman, Eames is Wonder Woman…" she murmured into my chest, and I could tell she was smiling. I couldn't help but smile, too. I was actually looking forward to working with those two, assuming it happened.

"I don't know. Who turns you on?" I whispered back. I held her loosely with one arm while my other hand stroked her hair. She was quiet for a few minutes and I thought she had gone to sleep.

But then she said her reply in the sweetest, sexiest voice…it was enough to arouse a dead man.

"Mike Logan."

* * *

**Bobby POV**

I've heard that it's common for people to turn to sex after someone dies. It's an affirmation of life kind of thing. Sex is a tangible thing that tells us we are alive, even if someone else that we knew is suddenly…not.

I'm going to have to say that near-death also spurs on the same response.

I managed to get into the building, mostly under my own power. I rejoiced that achievement while Alex unlocked the door, but then when we walked into our apartment, my brain suddenly reminded me that I had almost lost Alex a few hours ago.

_She almost died_.

And with that thought, despite everything…despite the fact that my body was battered and exhausted and that I smelled like a combination of a backyard barbeque and a high school locker room…my control went out the window.

She closed and locked the door behind us and then turned back to me. I couldn't wait another second and she must have seen it on my face. She reached for me, gingerly at first because I'm sure she didn't want to hurt me, but I grabbed her and pulled her tightly against me, eagerly seeking out her mouth.

We kissed for several minutes, kissed as though our very lives depended on it. And then she pulled my jacket off of me roughly, backing me up into the living room. She worked the knot on my tie, the buttons on my shirt…she does it all, my Alex.

Me, all I could do was explore every inch of her mouth. Although that did require some expertise, since I never let up the entire time she was undressing the top half of me until she finally had to pull my t-shirt off over my head.

I wanted to kiss her again, but by this time she had backed me up to the recliner. I felt it at the back of my knees, so I sat down. Alex kept at me, working at my belt buckle with one hand and my zipper with the other. I would say she was a pro, but she probably wouldn't like that description very much. Suffice it to say that she is very adept at getting me out of my clothes. And it's quite the admirable skill.

Once she had me stripped bare, she stood back and started on her own clothes. The smile she gave me before she pulled off her sweater was like a punch in the gut. I wanted her so badly. No, not just wanted her, I _needed_ her.

And the feeling was mutual because in seconds and without preamble, she climbed onto my lap and I was finally, blissfully sinking into her. I threw my head back and let out a groan before clamping my hands onto her hips.

We worked together at a ridiculous pace until I thought the chair was going to collapse beneath us. My thigh was burning, my jaw was throbbing, but it was all secondary. Minor distractions. _Alex almost died_, my brain shouted.

But she didn't. She was here with me and she loved me and she felt oh so good and I never wanted this feeling to end.

"Alex, don't you ever leave me," I rasped out, because I felt like I had to say it. And I had to hear her say that she wouldn't. I was feeling so emotional and needy and I hated it but I wasn't going to ignore it anymore. Alex wouldn't judge me for needing to hear the words.

"Never. I'll never leave you," she replied. And she was close, so close. I shifted in the chair to change the angle of things, and it caused a pain to shoot through my leg, but I didn't care about my leg because it also pulled a shout out of her. She flung her head back and called out to me and to God, in that order.

She was alive. And she was with me. It just didn't get much better.

At four a.m., we were still in the living room. I was sprawled on the couch, dressed in boxers and a t-shirt.

"How's it feeling?" Alex asked as she came into the room. She was dressed only in one of my t-shirts and she held a glass of scotch in her hand.

"Hurts like a sonofabitch," I admitted. I didn't know if she'd been referring to my thigh or my jaw, but the answer was the same for both. I had an icepack on my leg but it wasn't doing much for the swelling.

"Sit up a little. I brought you a drink. And some ibuprofen," she told me, holding out her other hand to show me six pills.

"Some? Are you trying to knock me out?" I teased, gratefully taking the medicine from her hand. I'd certainly taken more than 1200 milligrams before. It wasn't going to hurt a guy my size, even with the scotch. She didn't reply, but rather just smiled at me and went back to get her own drink. I swallowed the pills and shifted some more so that I could make room for her to sit next to me.

"What about you?" I asked her as she settled against my good side.

"I'm fine," she said quietly, leaning her head on my shoulder.

"So this weekend, right?" Alex asked me as her fingers slowly traced patterns along my arm.

"I don't know."

"Too soon? Because we can wait. Just because that's what I said to Ross in the heat of the moment, doesn't mean we're locked into anything." she said, and I loved her even more for not wanting to rush me. But hell no, it wasn't too soon. I just wanted to be able to do this right.

"I want to be able to carry you over the threshold," I told her. "I want to be able to dance with you by candlelight."

"We can wait."

"No. I'll be better. Saturday, okay? We'll do it Saturday. If our little escapade on the recliner didn't do me in, I think I can be up for dancing by then," I said, enjoying the sound of her answering chuckle.

"We did give that old Lazy Boy quite the workout, didn't we?"

"I think I heard a couple of springs pop loose." She laughed some more, and I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, enjoying the moment.

"Have you talked to your family?" I asked without opening my eyes. "I mean, do they even know about this?"

"They know we're together, but no. I haven't told them we're getting married."

I was quiet for a minute, not sure what to think about that.

"Don't over-analyze it, Bobby," she said softly.

"How do you know that's what I'm doing?" I asked her, a smile playing on my lips. She knew me too damn well, and I loved it.

"Because that's what you do," she replied, reaching up to kiss me sweetly.

"I haven't told them," she continued. "But only because I wanted to wait until we decided for sure. And now that we have, and since we're about done with this case, I'll call them tomorrow to let them know."

"We need to get the license tomorrow, or Friday at the latest," I told her. "There's a twenty-four hour waiting period."

"How do you know that?"

"I looked it up. I didn't want any little detail to get in the way."

"You are the sweetest man I have ever known," she told me, tilting her head up to kiss me again. "How is it that you stayed single so long?"

"I was just waiting for you," I replied.

TBC...


	28. Chapter 28

**Alex POV**

* * *

While I loved the fact that my relationship with Bobby had propelled forward as quickly as it had, I kind of felt guilty that I hadn't kept my family up to speed.

After our late night, made even later by our extra-curricular activities, we decided that we would hit the office at ten. So I got up at eight-thirty and called my dad.

"Alex, what's wrong?" he asked immediately.

"Nothing's wrong, Dad," I laughed. "I just thought I'd call to say hi. We haven't talked in a while."

"It's eight-thirty on a Thursday morning. Why aren't you at work?"

"It was a late night last night," I told him.

"Big case?"

"Yeah. We should be able to wrap it up today."

"How's Bobby?"

I loved that he had asked about Bobby only thirty seconds into our conversation.

I might never be able to convince Bobby of it, but both of my parents thought that he was good for me.

My dad, always the cop, hadn't been crazy about the idea of me getting involved with my partner. And while I could appreciate that opinion, it was too late for me to do anything about it. I mean, I guess I could've requested a new partner when I first realized that I was in love with Bobby, but…in all honesty, the thought never really occurred to me. And even if it had, I wouldn't have done it.

Gradually over the course of the past eight years, my entire family had come to terms with the idea that Bobby was it for me. I would either be with him, or I wouldn't, but I wouldn't be with anyone else.

And then a couple of months ago, after my impromptu swim in Jamaica Bay, and I chose to recuperate at Bobby's instead of mom and dad's…well, let's just say that no one was surprised.

So while I wasn't nervous about telling my dad that I was getting married again, I was afraid it was going to turn into a three-ring circus. It almost might have been better to wait and tell him after the fact.

"Bobby's good. Great, in fact," I told him, unable to keep from smiling as I looked down the hallway at his still-sleeping form in the rumpled bed. The scotch and ibuprofen had helped.

"Great, huh?" Dad asked, instantly on alert. "How great?"

"Um…" I began, and then I faltered. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

"Spit it out, Alex. I've never known you to mince words."

"I just…um…"

"Oh for God's sake. You've been spending too much time with Bobby – you're starting to talk like him," he joked. I stifled a laugh and headed for the kitchen. _Just say it, Alex._

"Dad, we're getting married. On Saturday."

"What? You and Bobby?"

"Yeah, me and Bobby," I said, now unable to contain the laugh. It was crazy how good I felt. _The lack of sleep must be catching up to me_, I thought giddily, _because I'm almost euphoric._

"Saturday?"

"Yeah, but we're not going to make a big deal out of it, okay?"

"So you're not inviting us?"

"You know, I did the whole big wedding thing already…"

"So you're not inviting us." There was a long pause. "That's fine, honey. Really."

"Are you sure? There's not going to be anybody there except Mike and Carolyn."

"Mike Logan?"

"Yeah, Dad, I told you about him. And Carolyn used to work with us, too. We're all friends now."

"So you want your friends there, but not your family."

"Dad, it's not like that. We just want to keep it small. And there is nothing small about the Eames family."

He was quiet for a minute and I held my breath. It doesn't matter how old you get, you still always like to have your parents' approval.

"Does he make you happy?" he asked finally.

"Happier than I've ever been."

"And your captain is okay with it?" I couldn't be too mad that he'd brought up work. At least it came _after_ my happiness.

"I'm not sure. But we told him last night."

"So you might have to transfer departments, right? You shouldn't be the one to do that, honey. Make Bobby do it. You were there first."

"Dad, nobody's transferring. Nobody's getting a new partner. Either the captain will let us stay as we are, or we'll quit."

"Alex…"

"It's okay. We've got a back-up plan. And actually it may not even be the back-up plan. It may be _the_ plan. I'm not sure yet."

More silence. I wondered how fast the Eames phone chain would work, and how quickly I would be getting calls from my siblings after this. I was definitely going to turn my cell on silent.

Bobby startled me with a big hand around my waist as I stood at the kitchen counter. He buried his nose in the side of my neck and I leaned into him with a feeling of complete and utter contentment.

"Dad, just be happy for me," I said.

"He's no Joe." My dad had always been a big fan of my first husband, but of course, he didn't know all of the details. No one did but me. And Bobby.

"No he's not," I agreed. "And thank God for that. He's so, so much better."

* * *

I was a little nervous going into 1PP. I can't explain why. It was this deep-seated feeling that everything I knew was about to change.

"Good morning, Detectives," Ross greeted us as we crossed the squad room. "How's the leg, Goren?"

Yeah, something was freaky. Ross had given us a pleasant hello and inquired into Bobby's well-being. I nearly pinched myself just to be sure that I wasn't caught up in a dream.

"It's a little stiff, but I'll be fine."

"Who's up first this morning?"

"We're going to talk to Jocelyn and see where we stand. Has anyone told her about Ashley?"

"No. We managed to keep it out of the press, so none of them should know."

"No phone calls made?" I asked, unable to resist the barb.

"No, Detective," he replied. _Hmm_…he didn't even take the bait. "Where are your sidekicks today?"

"Mike actually does have another job," I said. "And I'm sure he's thrilled to be there after carousing until the wee hours of the night. Carolyn hasn't checked in with me yet, but she'll probably be here shortly."

"Speak of the devil," Bobby said. I turned and saw Carolyn enter the squad room. The colors on her eye had deepened over night, and while I could tell she had worked hard with the make-up, there was no disguising it. Just ask me. I knew.

I offered her the extra cup of coffee that Bobby and I had picked up on our way in and she accepted in gratefully.

"You guys make quite the picture," Ross said. And as annoying as I found him, he was right. We all had discolored faces and mine had the added benefit of a lovely scratch across the middle of the bruise.

"Some of them go down harder than others," Bobby said with a shrug as he picked up his binder. "But they all go down eventually."

We asked an officer to bring Jocelyn to us, and then headed for the observation room. Ross said he would check in with us later, so it was just the three of us.

"So what did Logan mean yesterday when he said that Alex and I needed to talk to Ross?" Bobby asked Carolyn.

"Um…that you…need to talk to him?" she replied vaguely. I had forgotten about that conversation in the midst of everything that had transpired but Bobby doesn't forget anything. And now that Carolyn was acting weird about it, my curiosity was piqued as well.

"About?" I asked.

"You really need to talk to him."

"Him who? Ross or Logan?"

"Ross."

"We talked to him last night."

"And what did he say?"

"Not a lot. We talked about the case. And then we told him that we're getting married."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, but he was nicer than normal. This morning, too," I added.

Before she could respond, the interrogation room door opened and we watched as Jocelyn Moser was led into the room. I was happy to see that she had a bruise that covered the right side of her face.

"Show time," Bobby said, getting focused back on the work. _Always a detective first_.

"Why don't we all meet for dinner tonight?" Carolyn offered.

"Sounds good to me," I agreed. Bobby nodded, and I followed him out of the room.

"Good cop? Bad cop?" I asked lightly as we stood in the hall outside the interrogation room.

"She probably doesn't like you much. You beat the crap out of her," he teased.

"I doubt she's going to like either one of us."

"Let's hold off telling her about Ashley. I know we need to soon, but I want to see where this goes first."

"I'm with you," I replied easily with a shrug.

Like I said, there was a weird kind of energy in the place this morning. I had meant the comment as a standard supportive reply, but Bobby caught my eye and for a second I was lost.

Getting trapped in his gaze sometimes was like being in a tractor beam and as he fixed those soulful eyes on mine I suddenly flashed back to hours ago when he was slamming up into me and I was right on the edge and…

"Eames. You ready?" Wow. _Okay, that was inappropriate_.

"Yeah. Let's do this."

And in we went.

TBC...


	29. Chapter 29

**Logan POV **

* * *

I got off on the eleventh floor and headed for Ross' office. His door was open and he was on the phone.

"Yes, I was," he was saying. "I'm working on it, Liz."

Rodgers. I knocked on the door frame and waited inconspicuously to be allowed entrance. He held up one finger for a moment and then nodded at me.

"I don't want that either," he said into the phone. "Yeah, look, I can't talk right now. I'll call you later."

"Sorry to interrupt, Captain."

"Don't you have a day job?"

"Deakins said I looked like hell. He sent me home."

"This doesn't look like home to me."

"I wanted to see if I could watch the interrogations. Have they started yet?"

"Go ahead," he said with a dismissive wave. "Your better half is already in there. They're just bringing Jocelyn in now."

I hustled toward the observation room and went in at the same time that Goren and Eames went in with Jocelyn.

"Mike," Carolyn said in surprise. I shushed her and kissed her on the forehead. I wanted to see the sparks.

"I thought maybe I'd killed you. Too bad," Jocelyn said immediately when she saw Goren.

"Well, this is going to be easy. Five seconds in and she's already confessed to attempted murder," I joked to Carolyn. "Give them another minute and we'll know where Jimmy Hoffa's buried."

Carolyn chuckled, but then shushed me back.

"No such luck," Goren was saying.

"Oh, well. Maybe next time."

Jocelyn was trying to play it cool but it was obvious that the last several hours in lock-up hadn't been easy for her. Whatever her crimes, she was still a Long Island wife and mother.

"I don't think there's going to be a next time," Eames told her as she braced her hands on the table and leaned over into Jocelyn's personal space. It was a Goren move, but Eames pulled it off nicely. "You're in it deep."

"You don't have anything on me."

"We will. Your house didn't burn to the ground. Our guys are out there going through the remains right now," Eames said.

I quirked an eyebrow at Carolyn in response to that comment. She shrugged.

"She's lying," she told me.

"Huh. She's good at it."

"Not to mention that we have Tommy's testimony," Goren was saying.

At that statement, Jocelyn visibly relaxed. I caught the look between Goren and Eames and read the uncertainty there. Jocelyn trusted Tommy not to squeal?

"Look at her," Carolyn said quietly. It was her puzzle-solving voice. She was on to something. I took a good look at Jocelyn.

"Yeah?" I asked, unsure of what I was missing.

"Not her expression, but her face."

I studied the woman carefully, tuning out the continued interrogation.

And then I got it. I looked at Carolyn. She was watching me intently waiting to see if I saw the same thing she did. I nodded at her and gave her a wink.

"We need to tell them," I said, knocking on the window.

"We need to confirm this somehow," she added. "It's going to change their plan of attack."

Goren and Eames joined us in the observation room. They both looked at me quizzically.

"I can't stay away," I said with a shrug.

"Take a look at Jocelyn's face," Carolyn told them. They both turned to study the woman as she sat quietly in the next room.

"Holy shit," Eames muttered after a few seconds. "Really? And we didn't turn this up?"

"The records say he was adopted, but it was sealed," Goren said.

"Well, it's time to unseal them," I added.

Because from the looks of it, Tommy Booker was Jocelyn Moser's son.

Two hours and three cups of coffee later, we had our answer.

"So Jocelyn gave up a baby for adoption and then only a few months later, she met Sherman. Within a year, they were married and then another year after that, Ashley was born."

"How does this change things?" Ross asked. We were all in his office bringing him up to speed.

"Well, assuming Tommy knows the truth, it means he's not likely to rat her out," Eames said.

"Or it'll make him more likely," I posed. "If he holds any kind of hostility towards her for letting him be raised in foster homes while sister Ashley was living on Long Island."

"Yeah, but if he wanted to give up Jocelyn, he would've told us last night. No one was mentioning her name. In fact, Sherman even begged us not to tell her about any of this," Goren said.

"I wonder how Tommy tracked her down," Eames said.

"Maybe they saw the resemblance themselves. As someone conducting a drug screen, Jocelyn would've had access to at least his date of birth, and she could've made the connection," Carolyn replied. "But I wonder if Sherman knows."

"He might be the weak link," Goren agreed with a nod.

"Do we have any actual evidence on any of these people?" Ross asked.

"We've got Tommy's confession for four of the murders. And Elka confessed to killing Monique, and she admitted to knowing about the escort business, but she didn't know any details. And the money trail on the escort service has gone cold. And of course, we've got the drug charges."

"So who's the top dog here?" Ross asked.

"Jocelyn," Goren said, looking around to make sure we all agreed. We did. "I don't know how it got started, but she's holding the purse strings and everyone else is doing her bidding."

"Tommy and Elka both committed murders, right?"

"Right."

"Then go make a deal with Sherman. See if you can get him to roll on anybody. Hell, get him to roll on everybody and we'll call it a day."

"This is going to get ugly," Eames said after we'd left Ross' office. "We need to tell Sherman about Ashley."

"Uh huh," Goren agreed thoughtfully. "How do you want to play it?"

"Don't tell him you've picked up Jocelyn," Carolyn suggested.

"Or do," I countered. "But let him know how unaffected she was by the news of her daughter's death. I mean, she still has her son, right?"

* * *

**Bobby POV**

Some things just ended up being easier than expected.

Twelve hours in lock-up had made Sherman a basket case. Add to that the news that Ashley had been killed, and he was a broken man.

I almost felt sorry for him. But then I reminded myself how he had extorted so many young girls, threatening their very existence in this country. He had forced them to have sex just so that he could fatten his wallet. Broken or not, he was a despicable man.

By the time I got around to telling him about Tommy and how Jocelyn was his real mother, Sherman was done. His wife, that he had tried so hard to protect, had lied to him all those years about something so monumental.

"Sherman, who told Tommy to kill Felcia? And Daiya?" Alex asked sharply as she shoved photo after photo across the table to sit in front of Sherman. "And Anya? And Adrianna? It wasn't Elka, was it?"

He put his head in his hands, hiding his eyes from the graphic pictures.

"It was Jocelyn, wasn't it?" I asked. "She's the one who the girls went to when they had problems. She was the mother figure in the operation."

"Elka was just Ashley's lover. She helped out with the business. It was probably even her idea to bring in the Polish girls, right?" Alex added. "You probably weren't the only one who liked to test drive the girls."

"That's why you wanted to introduce Ashley to my partner. You didn't like it that Elka touched the girls. You wanted her out of the business and you couldn't do that as long as Ashley was in love with her. So when you met my partner, and maybe you thought she was your daughter's type, it all fell into place for you."

"Ashley was supposed to kill Elka last night, wasn't she?" Alex asked, effortlessly picking up where I left off. "That's why she had the needle with her."

"Yes!" he shouted. Then he settled down. "Yes."

"Yes to what?"

"All of it. Jocelyn mothered those girls whenever they had problems. If Felcia was pregnant, she would've told Jocelyn, not Elka. Elka just used them. She never even bothered to ask their names. But Jocelyn bought them nice clothes and…oh my God. She had Tommy kill them all. I knew she was mad about those tattoos, but I just didn't think…"

I slid a notepad across the table.

"Write it all down."

"Everything?"

"Beginning to end. How it got started, who was involved, everything."

"And then what?"

"And then we'll see if the DA will cut you a break."

"I can't go to prison," he asserted.

"Oh, you're going to prison," Alex told him.

"How long depends on you," she added, tapping the pad of paper. "Get busy."

It took him half an hour. But he laid it all on the line.

"Nice work, Detectives," Ross said when we handed him the confession. "And I've got more good news for you. CSU just called. Jocelyn had a duffle bag in her trunk with a change of clothes in it."

We waited patiently for the rest, but in true Ross fashion, he let his words linger for a moment before continuing.

"Included in the bag was a pair of stilettos."

_Ah…_I looked at Alex and nodded.

"Did they get mud off the heel?" Alex asked, unable to wait on Ross any longer.

"They matched it up to the sludge that borders the Queensboro Bridge."

"And?" I asked, because although that was good, I knew there was more.

"Traces of blood. Rodgers matched it up to Adrianna Blazejewicz."

"Corroborating evidence to back up our accessory's statement. Perfect," Alex said. "We're going to do some of this paperwork, and then we're going home."

She didn't even wait for Ross' reply, but rather turned and headed for the door. I quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind in Ross' office.

"Detectives," he called out. _Damn, could the man not just say everything he wanted to say at one time_? He was forever adding just one more thing.

"Yes, Captain," Alex replied on a sigh as she whirled around. We stood side by side just inside the door.

"I've got a meeting with Moran in the morning. I'm going to see what I can do."

"About keeping us together?"

"About keeping you both in the department."

"It's not negotiable," she replied, standing firm.

"The regulations are pretty clear," he said. Alex started to speak, but I wasn't going to let her fight this alone.

"Captain, you know where we stand. We'll be in your office first thing Monday morning to discuss our future with MCS." I said this with authority, but not with the unchecked emotion that I once would have. It had more punch this way.

He clearly had not been expecting this response, especially not from me. We left him standing slack-jawed behind his desk, and I had to turn quickly to keep him from seeing the satisfied smirk.

Logan and Carolyn were waiting for us at our desks.

"We've got miles of paperwork, but we should still be able to make dinner," Alex told them.

"How'd you manage to get off of work? You skated out on your second-to-last day?" I asked Logan. He just grinned.

"Hey, when the boss says go, I go."

"So what happened with the girls from last night?" Carolyn asked. "And all of the others?"

"It's a mess," I admitted. "Immigration is looking into the work that Sherman did. If he was holding up the green card application process somehow, or red-flagging applications, then there'll be a whole new set of charges for him. As for the girls themselves, they'll get counseling, but that's about all."

"And immigration is fast-tracking their green cards, right?" Carolyn asked.

"They said they would," I replied.

"And Sherman gave us a whole list of names of willing participants, students from NYU," Alex added. "Those girls will get picked up, printed, processed…ultimately they'll get out with a slap on the wrist, but hopefully they'll be scared straight."

"We're gonna get out of here. Let you guys get to it," Logan said with a grin. He hated paperwork as much as I did, so I'm sure he was thrilled to no longer be responsible for jumping through the NYPD hoops.

"Gee, thanks," Alex told him, returning his smile.

"You're going to spill it tonight, right?" I asked him. He didn't pretend to not know what I was talking about. He gave me a nod and then followed Carolyn out of the squad room.

I couldn't keep my mind from wondering what Logan knew about Ross, something that Ross himself didn't want to tell. It had something to do with his ex-wife, that much I knew. And it was making Ross act nearly bi-polar around us, being an ass one minute and too nice the next.

And that comment about seeing if he could _allow_ us both to stay in the department. What was that? Like that was going to be doing us any favors. There were no regulations against relationships within a department.

I was leaning more and more towards escaping the NYPD altogether. Six months ago, I would have rather died than leave MCS, but now…everything had changed. I could leave here, keep working with Alex and keep doing the same type of work, only without answering to Ross and Moran.

"Hey Goren," Alex whispered. Even though she'd used my last name, I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was up to something.

"If you finish up your half by four o'clock, we'll head out early and I'll show you another one of those tricks I learned." A slow, sexy smile was the finishing touch on that tortuous offer.

_Mother of God_. How was I supposed to concentrate now?

After a minute or two of complete vapor-lock in which I pondered endlessly the possibilities, eventually the promise of something mind-blowing had me buckling down.

At this rate, I'd be done by three.

TBC...


	30. Chapter 30

Alex POV

* * *

We finished the paperwork by three-thirty. Bobby does great work when properly motivated, so now I was going to have to make good on my promise.

Hey, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

We left without saying anything to Ross. My mind had been creating and rejecting possibilities all afternoon as to what Logan had learned. Considering that he didn't want to talk about it at 1PP, I had come to the conclusion that it was something that was really going to piss me off.

And I was already ticked that Ross wasn't man enough to tell Bobby himself. So when it was time to leave, I figured it was best if I said nothing. Otherwise, anything out of my mouth was likely going to include a multitude of four-letter words.

I did, however, want to call Rodgers. I had no doubt that Ross had told her that Bobby and I were getting married this weekend, but she would never say anything to me about it unless I brought it up first.

So after we climbed the steps of the courthouse, I pulled Bobby off to one side and got out my phone. I kept one hand entwined with his while I made the call.

"Hey, Liz, it's Alex," I started off so that she would know it was personal. "Are you busy?"

"I've got a minute."

"I just wanted to let you know that Bobby and I are getting married on Saturday."

"That's great! Congratulations."

"Yeah, well, the captain is not quite as thrilled as you are. I'm sure he mentioned it."

"He may have, yes."

"Well, anyway, I just wanted you to know. And I wanted to thank you for the support you've given us. You've been a good friend."

"That sounds like good-bye. Are you two going somewhere?" she asked cautiously.

"I don't know how this is going to play out," I admitted. "We'll know more on Monday. But either way, you've got my number. We can keep in touch."

"I'm sure that even if you're not working for the NYPD, you'll be somewhere that needs a medical examiner's expertise from time to time."

That sounded like an offer to me.

"So, if say for example, we were in the private sector. You'd be open to the random consult?" I asked her.

"Of course," she replied quickly.

"Good to know. I'll give you a call on Monday and let you know how things go," I told her.

I knew that she would probably hear the news from Ross before then, but she would only have his side of it.

And if a miracle occurred and we were allowed to remain partners, it still didn't mean that we would choose to stay. Some of that decision hinged on what Mike was going to tell us.

"Sounds good. Tell Detective Goren I said congratulations to him as well. You two deserve a little happiness."

I hung up with Rodgers and then Bobby and I went inside to get our license.

Twenty minutes later, we were back out on the steps. Bobby held the license in his hand and couldn't seem to take his eyes off of it.

"If I'm dreaming, please just leave me alone," he said quietly. "Do not wake me up."

I smiled at him and went into his arms.

"You're not dreaming."

"You put Goren on here. We never talked about it…I didn't think…"

"You didn't think I'd change my name?"

"You didn't before."

"Bobby, look at me," I said, leaning back so that I could look up into his eyes. They were mystified and filled with wonder.

"_Nothing_ about this is _anything_ like what I did before."

"It's just that…you really…you really want to be Alex Goren?"

I stood up on my toes to give him a kiss.

"I absolutely want to be Alex Goren," I said quietly against his lips. He grabbed the back of my head and held me in place while he kissed me thoroughly. Right here. On the steps of the courthouse. It was actually quite liberating.

When he reluctantly let me go, he gave me a devilish grin.

"Well, we're definitely going to have to quit MCS now," he said as he carefully placed the license in his binder.

"Why do you say that?"

"Ross already can only barely say my name. If he's going to have two Detective Gorens…that'll just put him over the edge."

I barked out a laugh, and took Bobby by the hand, leading him down the steps.

"You may be right," I agreed.

"Hey, how long do we have before we have to meet Mike and Carolyn?" he asked me as we walked across the street. I checked my watch.

"An hour," I replied with a smile. I knew why he'd asked.

The apartment was twenty minutes away, and then ten minutes from McNally's. That would give us a half an hour.

"How long will it take you to show me…"

"I do owe you, don't I?" I asked with a tease.

"Yes you do."

-------------------

A little more than an hour later, we arrived at McNally's. Mike and Carolyn were already at our usual table, so we slipped into the booth across from them.

"I won't ask why you're late," Mike said with a grin.

"Good," I replied, matching his smile. "And I won't ask what that mark is on your neck."

He quickly brought up his hand up to the side of his neck.

"Gotcha," I told him. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Ha ha."

"You guys get the paperwork done?" Carolyn asked after she waved the waitress over.

"The paperwork is done," Bobby told them. "_And_ we got our marriage license."

I grabbed Bobby's hand under the table and gave it a squeeze.

"So you're really going to do it, huh?" Mike asked.

"You guys are coming, right?" I asked. "We do need at least one witness."

"Tell us when and where. We'll be there," Carolyn assured me.

"We're not sure about the where yet, but we still have tomorrow to figure it out. I'll call you."

"Unless you guys get yourselves into trouble between now and then," Mike teased. "I don't know. It's a whole day. A day and a half, really."

"We're turning off the cell phones and staying in the apartment," I said.

"With my luck, somebody will get murdered in the building," Bobby joked. I was glad he was relaxed for now, because we both knew it would be short-lived.

We were waiting for our drinks before getting down to the serious business, so after the waitress put a pitcher and four mugs down on the table, the mood changed. I just knew I was going to want to leave this bar and go straight to find Ross.

"Let's hear it," Bobby said after taking a drink.

"Let me start by saying this. I didn't want to get in the middle of this. But he's asked me several times lately about you two. He knew something was up."

"Yeah, we kind of figured that he did."

"Well, when he asked what I knew about you, he opened the door. So then I turned it on him and asked him why he treats you like shit."

"He doesn't…" Bobby began, but I interrupted.

"Bobby, yes he does. And he has from day one."

Logan was nodding his agreement, so Bobby just shrugged and motioned for him to continue.

"I just don't want you to think I went fishing for this. He came out and told me and Carolyn yesterday in the observation room."

"Mike just say it," I encouraged. Mike looked from Bobby to me and then back to Bobby.

"So get this. Moran told Ross that you were boffing his wife."

"What?" we yelled out simultaneously.

"I kid you not," he continued. "Ross knew the wife was cheating. She had recently left him when he got the post at MCS. Moran pointed the finger at you. In fact, he told Ross that he saw the two of you together."

"And Ross believed that?" I shouted. "Who has that damn picture of Moran and Denise? I'm going to blow that thing up and hang it like a flag off the front of 1PP."

Mike barked out a laugh.

"Eames, I love the way you think. But I think Ross took control of that picture, didn't he?"

"So that's why he asked if I'd ever met her," Bobby said thoughtfully.

"Why are you not upset about this?" I asked him. My voice came out a little sharper than I meant for it to, but I was furious.

"Well, if he was given information by someone he trusted…"

"That's bullshit," Logan said, and I was glad that he thought like me. "Ross knows Moran is a tool."

"Bobby, Ross has known you for years. He's held this against you _for years_. And he didn't respect you enough to confront you about it? To ask you if there was any truth to it?"

"It probably spiraled out of control," Carolyn added calmly. "Once his thoughts were pointed in that direction, and it was such a hurtful thing for him, he probably never considered that it might not be the truth."

"And it explains why he can barely tolerate being in the same room with me," Bobby said. "He probably projected his anger at the affair towards me. It made it easier for him to deal with it since he had someone to lash out against."

"Okay, so we've delved into the psyche of Ross. We understand why. But that doesn't make it right," I argued. I took another drink from my mug and forced myself to calm down.

"What did you guys tell him?" Bobby asked.

"I told him no fucking way," Mike replied.

"Just like that? You didn't know me well back then. How could you be so sure?"

"Because. You've been in love with her since I've known you," he replied with a nod towards me. "I tried to set you up on a date a couple of times, remember? You wouldn't even go out with someone else, so I knew damn well you weren't knockin' boots with a married broad."

I couldn't argue with Mike's logic, and I appreciated that he had stood up for Bobby. He was still standing up for him, especially now when it seemed he didn't want to stand up for himself.

And I was frustrated with Bobby, but I also knew that this was hitting him at his weak spot. Someone thought he was capable of one of the sins of his father. _Fathers_. It was his worst nightmare.

"If it helps, I think he feels like shit about it now," Logan added.

"He has been making an effort," I agreed. "But it's too little too late."

"Especially since he won't even own up to it. Telling me and Mike doesn't count. He should have come to you," Carolyn said. Bobby nodded, and I could tell he was turning inside himself.

"We're going to go for a walk, guys. Order some food. We'll be right back," I said as I stood up from the table. I kept Bobby's hand in mine and pulled him up with me.

"Tell me," I said once we were outside in the cold night air.

"It's just blown my mind," he admitted quickly. I broke into a grin.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked me.

"Do you realize that I asked you what was wrong, and you answered me truthfully within about two seconds? I'm sorry to break into the mood here, Bobby, but that makes me happy."

He fought a smile, but he lost. We kept walking, hand in hand.

"I'm sorry. Keep talking," I told him, somewhat repentant for interrupting his thought process. He let out a heavy sigh.

"I try hard to be honorable. I always want to do the right thing. It hurts to be wrongly judged for something like this. What kind of person did he think I was? That I would do something like that and then just work alongside him? Who would do that?"

"Not you," I told him. "Never you. God, Bobby, I'm so sorry. I know this is your worst nightmare."

"No," he said abruptly, stopping our walk. "No, it's not. I hate it, and it might take me a little bit to get over it, but…losing you. That would be the worst. Nothing else would even come close."

"How do you come up with such romantic things to say, even in the middle of something like this?" I asked him as I went into his embrace.

"I just say what I think."

"I know," I murmured. "That's what makes it so perfect."

We went back to the restaurant a few minutes later and joined our friends.

"Everything okay?" Carolyn asked with concern.

"It's fine," Bobby told her.

"So what do we get to do to Ross?" Mike asked. "Slash his tires? Egg his house?"

I laughed out loud, and so did Bobby, but Carolyn merely smiled and shook her head.

"What are you, twelve?" she asked him.

"What?" he asked innocently. "We've got to do something."

"We're not going to do anything to him," I told them.

"Nothing?"

"No," Bobby said. "But we're not going to keep working for him either. I can't work for a man like that."

"And neither can I. So come Monday, we're quitting MCS."

TBC...


	31. Chapter 31

**Bobby POV**

* * *

The sun hadn't come up yet, but I'd been awake for hours. I just couldn't sleep.

I was too excited…too nervous...too petrified…too overwhelmed…just too everything.

Friday had come and gone. We'd talked to a judge that we actually liked, one who liked us, and she was going to officiate the ceremony. We'd purchased our wedding bands. I'd called my family in Minnesota to share the news.

But we didn't talk about work. I knew Alex was still pretty upset about that, and truth be told, so was I. I'd been a cop in one form or another for half of my life. It was going to be an adjustment to no longer carry a badge.

But our alternative was intriguing. We were going to get our private investigator licenses. We would still be legal to carry our weapons. We could still consult with law enforcement, only now we wouldn't be limited to New York, and we wouldn't have to deal with the politics. Or Ross.

And we would be working together.

I'd learned at an early age that change is inevitable. My mother, my father, Frank…I could never depend on anyone because their moods and priorities were always changing. I was an afterthought to all of them. I think that was why I liked being a cop so much. It was dependable. It was consistent. If I was unsure about everything else, I knew who I was - a cop.

But I didn't need that kind of consistency anymore.

I had Alex. She was the one thing I could depend on. I'd been depending on her for years, but I'd never realized it was mutual. I was always afraid that something in her life would change, and she would step away, and then I would be back to just being a cop.

But now that I knew…now that I knew for absolute certainty that she wasn't going anywhere, I decided it wasn't going to be that hard to let go of the badge. I had my stability with Alex.

So while at one time I would have said that being a cop is who I am, now I'm comfortable saying that being a cop is what I do.

And while it would have been nice to try to stay with the department, the injustice committed by Ross was just too great. I would never be able to trust him or give him the respect due someone in his position.

I had my twenty years of service, even accounting for that six-month suspension I endured. So when we went into work on Monday, after all was said and done with Ross, I was going to simply fill out my request for retirement.

"Bobby?"

"Hey, what are you doing up?" I asked, quickly rising from my spot on the fire escape.

"I could ask you the same thing," she replied. "No, don't come in. I'll come out."

She gracefully slipped out onto the fire escape and sat down with me. I wrapped my arms around her, enveloping her in the blanket I had brought out with me.

"You're worried," she stated.

"There's just lots to think about."

"Work?"

"I'm trying not to," I admitted.

"But it's there, I know. Look, if you've changed your mind, it's okay."

"Changed my mind about quitting?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'm pissed at Ross. I will be for awhile, and I know you will be, too. But that doesn't mean we can't keep working there. It's not like we were ever friends with him or anything."

"But we won't be working together," I reminded her.

"Probably not. Are we selfish to want that? To insist that we be allowed to work together?"

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to have it all."

We were quiet for awhile. Long enough that the sky began to gradually lighten as the sun started coming up.

"We're getting married today," I whispered into her ear. "It still doesn't feel real."

"I know. But I'm so glad it is. I'm so happy we're together."

"That's all that matters. Work is just…work. We'll be happy doing consulting work, I think. And if not, then we'll find something else."

"You're being awfully grown up about this," she teased.

"Well, see, I've got this girlfriend…"

"Wife," she corrected with a smile.

"Wife. I've got this wife…and she's taught me how to be a better man."

On any other day, I might have suggested we stay out on that fire escape for hours. I felt so peaceful with Alex in my lap and a blanket wrapped around us.

But not today. Saturday December 12th. Our wedding day. And we had things to do.

"I'd like to go out and see Lewis today if you don't mind," I told Alex.

She was in the shower and I was standing in front of the sink attempting to shave clean three days worth of beard.

"Have you even told him about us?" she asked.

"I haven't talked to him in several weeks," I admitted. And I felt bad about that, but Lewis was the kind of friend that made passing time seem irrelevant. We could talk once a week or once a year – either way, it still felt the same, like no time had passed at all.

"Does he know we're together?"

"Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I…um…it's been since before you moved in here. And so we'd only been together for a little while, and…"

"You didn't think we'd stay together, did you?"

"I…well…um…"

"You thought I'd leave," she said with understanding.

"Well, you know, I do have a tendency to screw things up."

She whipped back the shower curtain to look at me with feigned anger. I had to smile at her.

"Honey, as scary as I may find you sometimes, now is not one of those times."

She quirked an eyebrow at me and held the curtain back further, extending the invitation for me to join her.

Michael Johnson's got nothing on me. I was out of my boxers and into that shower in two seconds flat.

"I think it's safe to tell Lewis," she told me as she pulled the curtain closed.

"I don't know. He'll be jealous. He's always had a thing for you."

"Yeah, well that's too bad 'cause I've always had a thing for you."

So we went to see Lewis. And he was so supportive and happy for us that it made me feel really bad that I had waited so long.

"He thought I was going to wake up one day and realize I'd made a horrible mistake," Alex mock-whispered to him in explanation. Lewis grinned.

"You know, I've been telling this guy for seven damn years to make a move on you. Took you long enough," he said. "When's the wedding?"

"Uh…in about three hours."

"Today? You waited until the day of the wedding to tell me?"

"Well, we didn't really decide until a few days ago," I told him.

"Can I come? Where's it going to be?"

I looked to Alex and she nodded. We wanted to keep it small, but there was no way I was going to squash his enthusiasm. One more wouldn't hurt.

"Shakespeare Garden in Central Park," Alex told him. "Four o'clock."

"Outside?"

"It'll be a little chilly, but I didn't want to do it in some stuffy judge's office."

"I'll be there," he promised, pulling Alex into a hug. Then he hugged me as well.

"Oh, hang on," he added. He turned and headed for his workbench. "You guys going on a honeymoon?" he called over his shoulder.

"Not right away," I replied. "We've got to straighten out a work thing. Hopefully we will in a few weeks."

"Here," he said, tossing me a set of keys.

"What's this for?"

"You can't drive away from your wedding in a department SUV," he said with a nod at our vehicle.

"I've got my mustang," I reminded him.

"Yeah, and she still needs some work. You need to bring her back out here."

"So?" Alex inquired as she plucked the keys from my hand.

Lewis gestured across the shop to a canvas-covered car. I walked over to it and pulled the cover back. Alex let out a long whistle.

"A '61 Ferrari 250?"

"Completely restored. She purrs like a kitten."

"With the Columbo V12?"

I hadn't seen Alex this excited since…an hour ago. In the shower.

"That's right," Lewis replied, smiling at Alex's enthusiasm. He'd always loved that about her. Of course, I was no slouch either when it came to muscle cars.

"Two hundred seventy-six horse power," I added in appreciation. Lewis helped me pull the cover the rest of the way off of the cherry red machine.

"You can bring her back next weekend," Lewis offered. "Or the weekend after. I think I've got a buyer for it, but not until the first of the year."

"Are you sure?" Alex asked, although at this point, it would take an act of Congress to keep her from getting behind the wheel.

"Absolutely. What are friends for?"

We left the SUV at his garage with the promise that we would pick it up some time before Monday morning.

"I could drive this thing all day," Alex said as she maneuvered the little car across the Williamsburg Bridge.

"Do I get a turn?" I asked, although I think I was enjoying watching her face while she drove more than I would enjoy driving myself.

"You can drive us home from the wedding."

"Not to?"

"We're not going together."

"We're not?"

"No. We're going home now. You're going to get your suit and go to Mike's house."

"Because…"

"I know we're throwing tradition to the wind with most of this, but I want to get ready separately and meet you there. I want to join you in the garden, with the judge standing by, and take your hand and say our vows."

"You want to make me sweat it out as to whether you'll take this car and head for the coast," I joked. And it was a joke. Mostly. I would undoubtedly worry in those moments while I awaited her arrival. But maybe that was part of it, too.

"You take the car," she said as she pulled up in front of our building. "That way I'll be the one worrying."

"Is that okay?" she added when I didn't reply.

I checked my watch.

"We don't have a lot of time. Let's go inside. I'll get my stuff and go to Mike's."

"And we'll meet at the park."

"There is nothing in this world that will keep me from being there."

I grabbed my newest dark blue suit, because it's Alex's favorite, and my light blue dress shirt. Hey, if she likes me in blue, then I have no problem wearing it every day for the rest of my life. I grabbed my shoes, but then I hesitated when it was time to select a tie.

I hadn't seen the dress Alex had bought for this occasion. We shopped yesterday, but for a while she had left me in the Sky Mall store to explore the gadgets. When she returned, she had a garment bag over her arm and a smile on her face.

That said, I didn't know exactly how to color coordinate. And I knew enough about women to know that it was important.

"Um…Alex?" I asked, holding up several ties. She instead reached into a drawer and pulled out a box.

"I bought you a new one," she replied easily. If she was nervous, she wasn't showing it. I was turning into a bumbling adolescent again, but she was smooth as silk.

I accepted the box without looking into it. I decided that I would enjoy the surprise when I was ready to put it on, so I placed it in my garment bag.

"I think I'm ready," I told her. Butterflies began taking up residence in my stomach. _Two more hours._

I took my bag off the back of the door and slung it over my arm. Alex walked me to the front door. I put my hand on the knob, but I hesitated and then I felt her hand on my arm.

"The next time you come in here, we'll be married," she said softly. "It's been so long coming, and yet I never thought it would happen."

"Two hours. Just promise me you'll be there," I said, my nerves getting the best of me. _What if she wasn't? What if she changed her mind? What if…_

"Bobby," she said, running her hand along my cheek. "I'll be there. Trust me."

TBC...


	32. Chapter 32

**Alex POV**

* * *

Ten minutes after Bobby left, I was freaking out.

I held it together nicely in front of him because I didn't want him to know that I had a case of the nerves. He was anxious enough without me adding to his worries.

And it wasn't that I was second-guessing the decision. I want to marry him. Today. But that doesn't mean I'm not scared as hell.

Partly because I'm slightly superstitious. Because let's face it. My last marriage didn't go so well.

And I'm not referring to how it ended. _God, I didn't even want to think about that_. I was thinking about how Joe had changed once we'd said I do. How he wanted me to work less, and take over the household chores completely. How he turned into kind of a bully. How he'd cheated on me.

And the more I thought about these things, the more anxious I got. I sat down at the kitchen table and had a minor meltdown.

Okay, that might be an understatement.

I cried.

I have no explanation for it, but the tears just started and I couldn't stop them until I heard a knock at the door. _Shit_.

I never let anyone see me cry. Well, Bobby had of course, but no one else. It didn't suit the Alex Eames image.

So I furiously swiped at the endless moisture on my cheeks and went to the door. A quick check through the peephole had me so stunned that I pulled the door open without further concealment of the evidence of my tears.

"Alex, what's wrong?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. What are you doing here?" It was Rodgers.

"I wanted to bring you this," she said, holding up a gift. "I wasn't sure when the wedding was, but I figured I would leave it if you weren't home. I…uh…am I interrupting something?"

"No, come on in," I said, swinging the door open wider. My nose was running and I knew I looked a mess. "I'm sorry. Give me just a minute."

I left her in the kitchen and hustled down the hall to the bathroom. I took a moment to clean myself up, but it wasn't like it would make much difference now.

"Okay. I'm sorry," I said again. "That's so nice of you to get something. You didn't have to."

I was curious to look at the card to see if it was signed by both her and the captain, but I held back. Instead, I placed the gift on the kitchen counter and joined Liz where she sat at the table.

She looked at me and waited, but I didn't say anything.

"Okay. You don't have to tell me," she said. "I'm sure you have things to do, so…"

"No, stay," I said, suddenly afraid to be alone. Carolyn was on her way, but I needed to talk to someone and pull myself together.

"Alex, what's going on?'

So I told her. I told her about Joe and how I'd started thinking about him and just...everything. She's a good listener. When I finished, she got up and went to the cabinets, opening a few before finding what she was looking for.

"I've had a drink before each of my weddings. It'll calm your nerves," she told me as she poured the amber liquid into two glasses.

"How many times?" I asked, although I thought I knew.

"Three. Twice to the same man, remember?" she said with a chuckle. She sat back down across from me and clinked her glass against mine.

"To Alex and Bobby," she offered as a toast. "I have never known two people more meant for each other than the two of you."

Her words almost had me choked up again, so instead I tossed back the liquor and let it burn down my throat.

"It's really pretty annoying for the rest of us mere mortals," she added with a wry grin. I had to laugh. And it actually felt pretty good after that ridiculous outpouring of sadness.

"You don't think for one second that Bobby would treat you the way that Joe did," she said calmly after I'd settled down.

"No. Of course not. I…I'm afraid that it's me. What if I'm not cut out to be married?"

"That's just crazy. You two have been married for years. You just were denying yourselves the fun part of marriage up until recently. You've been through more trials and tribulations than most couples, and you've come through it together."

"I know. I know you're right. I just…"

"You panicked," she stated with a smile. "Alex Eames had a moment of panic. I'm going to go home and write this in my diary."

"Liz," I said, shaking my finger at her. "Don't you dare."

"My lips are sealed. But seriously Alex. Bobby adores you. And not only that, but he respects you as well. You know that. Just because one marriage failed, doesn't mean this one will. I honestly can't imagine a scenario where the two of you don't grow old together."

"I know," I said again, now embarrassed about my breakdown. _Damn nerves_.

Another knock at the door had me heading into the foyer. This time it was Carolyn.

"Alex, what the hell happened to you?" she asked unceremoniously as she came in the apartment. "Oh, hi Liz," she added when she saw the doctor in the kitchen.

"I…uh…just had a little case of the nerves," I admitted.

"You've been going non-stop for more than a week. Getting what – three, four hours of sleep a night? You were a breakdown waiting to happen."

"Gee, thanks."

"I'm just saying…you're going through a lot of changes right now. Bobby, work, your apartment burning down…not to mention getting your ass kicked a couple of nights ago."

"Hey, Jocelyn Moser did not kick my ass," I argued. "Did you see her face in interrogation?"

Carolyn grinned at me and pushed me in the direction of the bathroom.

"Go get in the shower, Wonder Woman. We've got a wedding to get to."

I showered and dressed, all the while chastising myself for my moment of weakness. I was grateful that I had held off until after Bobby had left, but still…how could I let Joe put a damper on my memory of today? I guess our marriage had damaged me more than I realized.

But Liz was right. Bobby and I were already, for all intents and purposes, a married couple. I didn't have to worry about getting the bad-marriage monkey off my back. It was already gone.

I went to my jewelry box and when I opened it, I found a gift that Bobby had left for me. It was a pair of earrings, emerald-cut diamond studs that matched my ring. On the inside of the box, he had written: _My heart is ever at your service_.

Of course Bobby would quote Shakespeare.

I smiled at his romanticism and took in another deep breath. With shaky fingers, I pushed the posts into place and then stepped back to take a look at the final product.

It had taken me a little over an hour, but I had to admit to being pleased. My dress was perfect, my hair had been cooperative, and the bruise on my cheek had faded enough to be hidden underneath my makeup.

_Alex Goren_, I said to my mirror image.

I liked the sound of that. A lot. And I realized that however screwed up my first marriage had been, I had been truthful with what I'd told my dad. Bobby was no Joe. And I wasn't the same Alex that I had been back in 1993. And together, we were going to be just fine.

I went out to the kitchen and found Liz and Carolyn still drinking scotch.

"I'd really rather you not come sloshed to my wedding," I teased. They both turned to look at me and their reaction at seeing me solidified my confidence.

"Alex," Carolyn began. "You look just…"

"Radiant," Liz finished.

"The crying jag did you good," Carolyn added. "It opened up your pores. Your face is just glowing."

"Thanks, I think," I said, but I couldn't keep from smiling broadly. I checked my watch again. We needed to leave in a few minutes. I didn't want to make Bobby wait.

"I'm getting out of here," Liz said with a wave of her hand.

"Where's the captain today?" I asked.

"He's working."

"Come on with us, then," I told her.

"Oh, no. I don't want to intrude."

"Liz," I said. "Come. You've supported us in this, you've gotten into fights with your husband over us…you have to come."

She looked down at herself.

"I'm not really dressed for a wedding."

"It's outdoors. And it's very informal, I promise. And there's just going to be a couple of people there."

"Okay. You talked me into it."

"Great," Carolyn said as she walked around and turned off the lights. She had taken care of arranging the apartment exactly as I asked. "Let's go."

* * *

**Bobby POV**

I stood in the garden and waited for Alex. She wasn't late. I was just early. I couldn't help myself. I'd been driving Mike crazy, pacing relentlessly around his house and talking to myself. _She's going to come. Right? She wouldn't _not_ come. She'll be there. _

"Goren!" he'd finally yelled at me. "Get in the car. We're going."

"It's early."

"I don't care. I'm going to kill you if you make one more lap around this house."

I followed him down the sidewalk and climbed into the car. I let him drive because the clutch really put a strain on my still-bruised thigh and I didn't want to inflame it before I got the opportunity to dance with Alex tonight. I wasn't sure where we were going to go for that dance, but I was determined that it would happen.

"And you know damn well that Eames would never leave you at the altar," Logan added good-naturedly as he started up the car.

And he was right. I knew it. But I still wanted to see her.

So there I stood, in my suit and tie.

It was a beautiful day. The temperatures had reached nearly forty, which was great for this time of year. Lewis and Mike talked amicably off to one side. Judge Whitmore sat on a nearby bench, carefully filling in the required portions of the marriage license.

And then I saw her.

She arrived with Liz and Carolyn and while later I would ponder how Liz got involved, at the moment I couldn't think about it.

She was just so…perfect. There wasn't a better word. She was absolutely everything I could ever want. And she was smiling at me.

I was rooted to the spot, so I simply watched as she approached. She was wearing the earrings I had given her and they looked like they were made for her ears. Her dress was amazing. It flowed and moved with her as she gracefully crossed the park. I took in the details about her while my eyes remained fused to hers.

I could feel the weight of the wedding bands in my pocket. I could smell the flowers I held in my hand, ready to give to my bride. And suddenly my nerves disappeared.

_This was Alex_.

She finally reached me and I handed her the flowers.

"Thank you," she said and then in a whisper she added, "You can breathe now."

"I'm trying," I admitted with a smile. "You are absolutely stunning. Are you sure you're in the right place?"

"Next to you. That's the only place I want to be."

She held out her hand and I entwined my fingers through hers.

"Let's do this then. Before you change your mind."

It only took a few minutes to commit for a lifetime. But that's what we did, and when it was over, it wasn't just relief that swept through me, but elation as well.

Never once in my life did I think I would end up here. I never thought I was good enough to deserve someone's undying love, much less someone like Alex.

But we got out of the elevator in our apartment building and she kept smiling at me, and I had to smile back. I was just so ridiculously happy.

I unlocked the door and swung it open before sweeping her into my arms.

"You were serious about carrying me over the threshold," she giggled as I took us into our home.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Goren," I told her, using my foot to close the door behind us. I went to reach for a light, but she stopped me.

"Put me down," she said. "I need to do something."

"Secrets? Already? We've only been married an hour," I teased, still holding her close. She smelled so good and the warm press of her body against mine was wreaking havoc on my libido.

"Bobby," she said in a low husky voice. I kissed her, slowly at first, but it built up quickly and I still didn't want to put her down. She got into the kiss as well and it was several minutes before she pulled away.

"If you put me down, I promise you'll like it."

I set her on her feet and she headed for the living room.

"Stay here," she said over her shoulder. I took off my suit jacket and loosened my tie while I waited for her to return.

In a minute, she came back and took me by the hand.

The living room had been transformed. The furniture was arranged in such a fashion that there was a large empty space in the middle of the room. Lit candles decorated every available surface.

"What did you do?" I asked in amazement. But she simply reached for the stereo remote and pushed a button.

I recognized the song immediately, and I wondered if Alex knew how many times I'd listened to that song in the past and thought of her.

"May I have this dance?" she asked me. She had remembered that I wanted to do this, from that one casual comment I'd made a few days ago.

"This one, and every one," I told her as I brought her into my arms.

I held her close as we glided around the room. Before tonight, I had only danced with her in my imagination, but the real thing was so much better. As in everything else, she matched me step for step, our rhythm perfectly in sync.

"I don't want this day to end," she whispered against my chest. "I was afraid I'd ruined it, but I didn't. I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life."

"Ruined it how?" I asked her, never missing a step.

"I…ah…starting thinking about Joe this afternoon, and I may have panicked a little, thinking that I don't know how to be married."

"Alex," I admonished softly.

"I know," she said with a quiet chuckle. She held me even tighter, if that was possible. "And then I got mad at myself for messing up the memory of this day."

"You're pretty hard on yourself."

"I'm just glad I was wrong. Nothing can take this moment away from us. And for the record, you are an even better dancer than I imagined."

"You've thought about this before?" I asked with a smile.

"Of course. I dreamed about us having sex before we started doing that. You don't think I'd stop at that, do you? A girl likes a little romance, too."

"Hmm…" I mused thoughtfully before carefully swinging her into a low dip. She laughed and threw her head back as I lingered over her for a moment before pulling her back into my arms. "And do I give you enough romance?"

"Your romantic side has been such an unexpected pleasure," she hummed, once again settled against my chest. "I had no idea. And I had no idea how much I would enjoy being romanced. I never thought I needed it."

"Everybody needs a little. Besides, I like making you feel good," I whispered into her ear.

"Well, you definitely have a knack for that," she agreed. The song ended, but another one started so we kept dancing.

I held her left hand in mine, and I loved the feel of the wedding rings on her finger. _My wife_, I thought in amazement. _Alex Goren_.

"I could hold you like this for the rest of my life," I murmured, tucking her head under my chin.

"I"m counting on it."

TBC...


	33. Chapter 33

**Rodgers POV**

* * *

I could tell by the rigidity of his muscles that he was awake, but he wasn't talking. He was lying perfectly still with one arm wrapped around me, but I could almost hear his brain working overtime.

"What is it?" I asked him finally, my voice cutting through the darkness. It wasn't quite five a.m.

"Nothing," he replied immediately, his tone indicating his surprise that I was awake.

"Danny," I coaxed. "It's okay to admit that you're thinking about them."

"It's ridiculous to admit that I'm thinking about them," he countered. But I smiled, since he essentially just had confessed. He knew it, too, because he sighed heavily.

"I need them in my department."

"I know you do."

"How could they do this to me?"

"Do what? Fall in love?" I asked on a laugh. "I don't think they took you into consideration at all."

"How could they get married? I could've kept their secret. But not now."

"I don't think they wanted it to stay a secret. They're too honest for that."

"Honest. Huh. They didn't mind sneaking around all these years. Why suddenly grow a conscience?"

"It wasn't years. They've only been together a few months," I told him, deciding that they wouldn't mind me sharing that bit of information.

"A few months?" he asked, his voice booming through the quiet room.

"I don't know exactly when, but it was after his brother was killed."

Danny was silent for a while as he pondered that information. I knew he couldn't comprehend what those two felt for each other.

Me, I was happy for them. Maybe it was my romantic side trying to fight its way through, but something about being witness to that ceremony on Saturday…I couldn't get it out of my head. It had without a doubt been the most moving and touching thing I had ever been privy to.

And if I'm honest with myself, I was a little jealous. The depths of their emotion was something that everyone dreams of, but very few people attain. And while I knew that Danny loved me, it didn't seem quite the same.

"You truly like them, don't you?" he asked after several minutes.

"They're likeable people," I replied. I decided not to mention how uncharacteristically slow he was being if he was only just now realizing that. I knew Danny was a smart man. A very smart man, actually. But he had blinders on when it came to those two. Goren mostly, but Eames as well for not understanding her commitment to him.

_Eames_. Huh. I guess she was Goren now as well. That would take some getting used to. And then I smiled again thinking about how much Danny was going to hate that.

"Moran won't go for leaving them as partners. In fact, I got my ass handed to me for not calling them out on their relationship."

"How hard did you push?"

"Hard enough."

"Danny."

"I didn't mention the picture, no," he said, knowing exactly where my mind was going. "I don't like the idea of blackmail."

"You did it when it helped us."

"That was different," he insisted.

"Okay," I conceded, backing off. I couldn't make him fight for them if he didn't want to. And I knew he felt bad about his misconception of Goren all these years, but I guess not bad enough to pull out the big guns.

"But you know they'll quit."

"I'm hoping we can reach some sort of compromise."

I laughed out loud at the notion. No, he didn't understand them at all. I rolled over and climbed out of bed. The alarm was going to go off in a few minutes anyway. I figured it was time to get the day started.

* * *

**Logan POV**

Four hours of sleep each night was all I'd been getting for weeks, so it didn't surprise me that I was awake before five a.m. After all, it had been nearly one o'clock when we finally went to sleep last night. I certainly wouldn't want to overdo it.

Carolyn was still breathing evenly, so I wrapped myself around her and enjoyed her warmth. She snuggled back against me, even in sleep. She always seemed so tough and aloof in her waking hours, but once we were in the bed, she thrived on contact. Lucky me.

I would love to be a fly on the wall in a few hours to check out that meeting between Ross and the Gorens. I also would've liked to know what went on between Moran and Ross, but that wasn't going to happen. Ross would never tell. But if I were Ross, I would've wanted to beat the crap out of that prick.

Of course, I guess that's why he was the MCS captain and I was…now a private consultant. _That didn't sound so bad_. I would take my job over Ross' any day.

I had a feeling that unless Ross got down on his hands and knees and begged them to stay, then it wasn't going to happen. And I didn't blame them. It had gone beyond just leaving to avoid being assigned new partners. It had been a slap in the face for them to find out about Moran's lie and Ross' belief of it.

And in Ross' defense…huh, I have a hard time even thinking those words. But still, in Ross' defense, he began believing the lie before he really knew Goren. And he was wrong on a couple of levels. Not only to never discuss it with him, but also to hold it against him. But Ross was a man, a husband who had been wronged, and he thought he knew the guy responsible. It was a stupid mistake, but it happens. He should grow a set and approach Goren about it now, but as his boss, he probably didn't want to put them on an even playing field. Again, it was wrong, but…

Now Moran was another story altogether. He intentionally sent Ross down the wrong path just to screw Goren over. And for no damn reason other than that he doesn't like him. A lot of people don't like Goren because he's so smart. What kind of a reason is that? Moran probably can't spell intelligence, so it's likely what had him stirred up. You would think a good chief would want smart detectives working for him. But that would assume that Moran was a good chief…me, I would just love to find a way to get back at Moran. To expose him for the incompetent moron that he is.

"I can hear you plotting," Carolyn mumbled.

"Plotting? How do you know I'm plotting something? I could just be thinking."

"Because I know how your mind works."

"Okay, smart lady," I teased, pulling her tighter against me. "Tell me."

"You started off thinking about the meeting this morning. Then you half-way let Ross off the hook in your mind because he was a pawn in Moran's game. Then you started analyzing why Moran would have it in for Goren. And you want to get back at him."

I don't know why she rendered me speechless. I mean, I know she's smart. Scary smart. And she knows the workings of the human mind better than just about anybody. But _damn_.

She chuckled and turned over in my arms so that we were nose to nose.

"I take it I'm right?"

"Don't be so smug about it. What else would I be thinking about this morning?" I asked casually.

"Maybe your new job?" she replied. "I heard your new colleague is a real bitch. You might want to think about sweet-talking her a little. You know, get on her good side."

"I don't think she'll fall for one-liners. She's much too smart for that."

"Give it a shot. She might surprise you," she countered, running her hands down my back.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation, while my brain ran through the possibilities. Somehow I knew that _what's your sign_ in any one of the fifteen different languages wouldn't quite cut it. Especially after being witness to all of that freakin' romance at the wedding on Saturday.

"I'm…um…I'm not Goren. I don't have flowery words at my disposal," I admitted, flustered that I was letting it get to me.

"It wasn't a test, sweetie," she said, giving me a kiss and then slipping out of the bed. "I was just teasing you."

And maybe she was, but damn…I wanted to make her feel good. She always said the sweetest things to me, like calling me her super hero. But I couldn't come up with anything good at all?

"Hey Carolyn," I called to her.

"Yeah?" she asked, sticking her head out of the bathroom doorway.

I felt like an idiot, but I wanted to say it. I had read it somewhere years ago, back when we were still partners at MCS, and it had stuck in my head because it made me think of her.

"I could conquer the world with just one hand, as long as you were holding the other."

* * *

**Bobby POV**

I was still on cloud nine, so much so that I couldn't sleep. It was crazy, really, because things weren't really any different.

_Except that they were_.

I turned over in the bed to find Alex staring at me.

"You can't sleep either?" I asked as I found her hand and knotted my fingers together with hers.

"No. I'm playing out scenarios in my head of how this meeting is going to go. We should've scheduled it for six o'clock."

"You think Ross doesn't sleep like a baby at night?" I asked dubiously.

"I think he's worried. I don't think he ever really considered that we would leave, even if we got split up. He doesn't want to lose us."

"I hope he didn't give Moran the farm to keep us partnered together, since we're leaving either way."

"I don't really care what he went through," she replied angrily. "It's his own fault that he's in this situation. If he had been honest with you…"

"Don't let his feelings for me make up your mind, Alex. Don't leave just because of me."

"You'd better be kidding me," she said. "Because Bobby…"

"I was just making sure," I interrupted, a smile playing across my face. "Don't get yourself all riled up."

She swatted at me and went to get out of the bed, but I pulled her back down on top of me.

"Where do you think you're going?" I teased. "Don't you have some wifely duties to perform this morning?"

She choked out a laugh and looked at me incredulously.

"You're full of yourself today, aren't you?" she asked, her smile matching mine. She rubbed her hand along the side of my face gently.

"I'm just feeling great. We'll take care of this thing with Ross and then everyone can breathe easier. It won't be hanging over our heads. We can work out our notice and in our off-time, we can use some of our contacts to help Mike and Carolyn get the business built up enough so that by the time we start, things should be rolling enough for four of us."

"You've got it all planned out, don't you?"

"Except the honeymoon. I haven't figured that one out yet."

Three hours later, we arrived at 1PP. We were a little early, but Ross was already in his office.

"Come on in, Detectives," he said when he saw us. I followed Alex into his office and he closed the door behind us.

"I heard it was a lovely ceremony," he began, catching me off guard. Of course, I knew Liz would tell him about it, but I was surprised to hear him acknowledge it.

"Yes it was, thank you," Alex replied.

"So, let's cut to the chase. I met with the chief. He wanted me to fire both of you," he said, and then he turned to me. "And then he wanted me to just fire you because clearly you must have persuaded Eames into this illicit affair."

"Goren," Alex interrupted. I couldn't stop from smirking, so I looked down quickly to hide my face.

"I'm sorry?" Ross questioned.

"It's Goren now. Detective Alex Goren."

I looked back up in time to see Ross' astonished stare. Alex kept a straight face, but I had to fight off the insane urge to laugh out loud. This moment, right here, was almost worth all of the shit he'd put us through over the past several years.

"Oh. Okay. My apologies. Anyway…um…so I told the chief that no matter what he thought, two detectives having a relationship was not grounds for dismissal."

"Of course it's not," Alex chided. "You shouldn't have had to tell him that."

"No…um…that's right. But it is cause for a transfer."

"Captain, with all due respect, we've stated our position," I reminded him. "A transfer is unacceptable."

"I know. But I was able to get him to allow for you both to stay in this department. But not as partners."

"That's fine," Alex said, standing up.

"It's fine?"

"I mean, it doesn't matter," she clarified as she reached in her jacket pocket. She pulled out a sealed envelope and laid it on his desk. "It's my letter of resignation. I'll work out a thirty-day notice."

I stood up, too, but I didn't have a letter to turn in. Ross looked at me carefully.

"I'm not resigning," I began. "I'm eligible for retirement. I'll fill out the paperwork today. It should receive approval within thirty days, so we'll consider that my last day as well."

"Eames," he said and then caught himself. "_Detective_. You don't want to do this. You're three years away from a pension."

"You're concerned about my financial well-being?" she asked him.

"No..I…well, yes. You've worked too hard to throw it all away."

"I'm not throwing anything away, and if you can't see that…" she let her words hang there for a moment, but then didn't finish. She turned to leave, but then she stopped and turned back around to face the captain again.

"You know what? No. I wasn't going to say anything, but…you know, there was a time when I thought I wanted this job, your job. I wanted to be a captain. But I'm so glad that wasn't in the cards for me because if it had turned me into someone like you…I don't know how I would sleep at night. I don't know how _you_ do."

"Detective," he said sharply, clearly offended by her words. I just stood still and made sure I was out of the line of fire.

"You spent five years punishing a man for something he didn't do," she accused, her eyes flashing hotly. "You didn't have the guts to ask him about it, so instead you berated him and second-guessed him…how'd that work for you, Captain?"

She didn't wait for his response, which was probably a good thing, because I'm not sure he was capable. He was simply stunned. However, Alex was on a roll.

"I'll tell you how it worked. Piss-poor. And now you're losing the best team this department has ever seen. And you have only yourself to blame. You and that ass-kisser Moran. So next time, maybe you shouldn't be so quick to judge someone. Because it'll always come back to bite you in the ass."

With that, she flung his office door open and left the room. I looked from her retreating form and then back to Ross, who was still completely taken aback. I opened my mouth, but Ross held up a hand.

"Please, not now Detective. Just give me a minute."

I found Alex in a conference room, still vibrating with anger.

"I didn't know you were going to get into all of that," I told her softly.

"I didn't either. But I couldn't leave this place without saying it."

"You don't have to fight my battles for me."

"Bobby," she sighed. "You are such a kind-hearted man that sometimes you are too forgiving. It needed to be said, and I have no problem being the one to say it."

I thought about it for a minute while she took a few deep breaths and calmed herself down. I wanted to hold her, but of course we couldn't. Even though everyone now knew about us, it didn't mean we were going to start acting unprofessional.

"You did say it rather well," I told her with a smile. She looked up at me and slowly began to smile.

"We just quit our jobs," she said in awe. And I knew what she meant. It was one thing to plan to do it, but another thing entirely to actually say the words.

"Regrets?" I asked. I touched her sleeve gently, just needing to make that physical connection.

"Not a one."

**The End**


End file.
